


We're both living under the same sky

by shinjiteii



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post-Zombie Apocalypse, Suicide Attempt, rare mentions of zombies tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-16 02:40:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 113,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14154870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinjiteii/pseuds/shinjiteii
Summary: Sunggyu's surrounded by friends and people who love him. But there's something that still makes him feel out of place.





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by feb week 3 woogyuly prompt 'i hate' and also march prompt ‘apocalypse’ because this is late hehe
> 
> the description is really bad, ignore it. this story is inspired by lyrics of 'I Hate' by Infinite. forgive any grammatical mistakes. my native language isn't english, and if anyone's willing to beta read please help me! the first chapter is just a prologue

 

 

 

The roads lit up with chatter as examinees were being led to the village hall, the largest building in the entire village. That place was where all the important occasions were conducted, and among those included the selection of the most important positions in the village, that was, that of the ‘guards’.

Guard duty was one of the most important for our villagers, because they lived in the post-apocalyptic world, and what was the reason for the apocalypse?

Yeah, you got it right. Zombies had come into existence twenty years ago, and since then the world we had known then has never been the same.

Whole countries were lost, races, languages and cultures vanished, with the destruction of population in huge numbers. In places with high population densities, the destruction was imminent and immediate. Major populations of the world vanished as the zombie virus spread.

Till this day, there hadn’t been discovery of the reason of the existence of zombies, or maybe it’s only our heroes who didn’t know about it since they lived in Gwangju, one of the few and only places in erstwhile South Korea, where people lived, and the information had not been able to reach them.

Many portions of the world were isolated from each other, with no contact. It was hard even for villages within South Korea to maintain contact with each other.

Villages that existed now, were a portion of land surrounded by strong protection from the zombies, and with guards to look after the protection of the village from zombies and looters, while also being responsible for the expansion of the village.

And so, the selection of guards was an important process, with every detail taken care of.

In this particular village in Gwangju, an exam was held every year to select a number of guards from the candidates who applied. The guards were the most handsomely paid people, even paid more than the village head, hence a lot of people applied for the guard positions. And there were those who wanted to be a part of the force responsible for the safety of the village, those who cared for the village. There was no age limit for applying though it was mostly young and middle aged people applying.

And it was that time of the year, just two days before the most-awaited examination. Candidates walked on the road to the village hall while discussing what could be the possible announcement the exam committee was going to make, and also gossiping about who the head guard might be this year.

The head guard was the most important position; they did the job of the leader, ordering their group of guards. And though there were head guards and guards selected every year, the selection every year still held importance, because it meant the village was going to expand as the guards kept on increasing, and they would have more resources at their disposal.

Kim Sunggyu, who was one of the candidates, walked in the front of the crowd of candidates, just behind the guards who were leading them. He was familiar with most of the guards.

Since groups of guards were formed on the basis of the year in which they were selected, those all who were selected this year would all be a part of the new guard group formed this year. There were fifteen guard groups in the village currently with sixty three active guards.

The one leading the group of candidates was the head guard of the seventh guard group Shin Changmin. Behind him was Kim Heechul, member of the tenth guard group, and one of Sunggyu’s acquaintances.

Heechul slowed his pace so that Sunggyu was right next to him, and whispered to him, “Where are your buddies?”

Sunggyu was surprised at the sudden question, and turned around to look for his friends. He couldn’t spot any of them in the crowd behind him. “I don’t know.” He replied.

 “Wow. I could never imagine you being separate from any of them.” When Sunggyu raised an eyebrow at that, Heechul clarified, “I mean I know you do like to be lonely and all, but it’s not a lie that they cling to you all the time, and you do let them do that.” Heechul accused him.

Sunggyu shrugged in indifference. “I am not going to be there with them forever. They know how to live without me.” He said, as if it wasn’t a big thing.

Heechul looked at him in confusion, but was interrupted out of further questioning, when Changmin was yelling at him to come faster.

Sunggyu fell back to the crowd of candidates, and just then, he became surrounded by the people he had just talked about with Heechul.

Dongwoo, Woohyun, Hoya, Sungyeol, Myungsoo and Sungjong, all surrounded him all of a sudden as if they were there all along, but Sunggyu knew how fast they were, that it was possible that they were at the far end of the crowd in one minute, and at the start the other minute. Not very different from how Sunggyu was.

As the six went on to chat among themselves after surrounding him, Sunggyu wondered why the hell the village was organizing the test anyway. The seven of them were the best contenders for the guard positions in the village for this year everyone knew. They had been training hard since the past year for that, and the practice tests held throughout the year had all indicated how stronger the seven of them were compared to the rest of the candidates. And though a few others might also make it to team, the highlight was who was going to be chosen as the head guard.

It was a very important position as the head guard is given free rein to do whatever they want with their group. They can decide to take on the defensive position and make the team defend the village and clear the surrounding areas off stragglers and unexpected visitors. They can decide to take on territorial expansion. And some even do whatever the hell they want, sometimes doing something completely unrequired, like what the fourteenth guard team ended up doing- looking for a lost treasure from a treasure map found in the village.

The decision was taken on the basis of scores from the examination and also scores from the judges. It may not seem that important monetary consideration wise, since the pay did not wary much among the guards and head guards, so only those ambitious for the head guard post applied for it.

And it was something very important to Sunggyu.

Sunggyu’s father had been the first head guard of the village, the head guard of the first guard team. It was natural Sunggyu was expected to be as good as him. But for Sunggyu what was important was, he wanted the discretion to use the guard team for his purpose. He had a goal to achieve, and the head guard position was significant to him for that.

And the problem was- he was not confident. He wasn’t confident of defeating his friends. They were all extraordinary contenders. Sunggyu knew their weaknesses, they knew his. They had trained together after all.

But the one among all who Sunggyu feared the most was the man who currently had his hands over Sunggyu’s shoulders from behind as they walked.

Woohyun used the same techniques as Sunggyu, had similar fighting style, and though Sunggyu relied more on plans, and Woohyun relied more on engaging, they had the same thinking most of the time. And a competitor who knew your thinking was the toughest one.

Sunggyu relaxed into Woohyun’s chest as the other brought him closer, almost back-hugging him. Sunggyu hoped that he would be able to defeat Woohyun as he wanted to, because Woohyun had the same ambition as Sunggyu, and even though they were friends, and maybe more, they weren’t going to go easy on each other.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one day I’ll write a proper apocalypse story, till then please make do with this sorry excuse for one lol


	2. 01. breathe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the au is just a premise, this is going to be centred around woogyu. sorry if this looks like a pwp. warning- really nsfw

 

 

 

The night had cast its dark shadow on this part of the world, and Woohyun was outside his small wooden house trying to catch sight of stars. He used to live with his family in the center of the village until last year, when he had left for training. His current house, like most of the training centres, was located at the edge of the village, very close to the walls protecting the residents. Candidates lived in small single room houses, close to each other, but not too close, just close enough that they could congregate at one place for bathing and eating and all the routine activities.

Woohyun was just done with bathing and though the air was cool, he had felt like star gazing, so he was sitting outside his house on the steps, watching the moon and stars, covered in his blanket. He was wearing a loose t-shirt and shorts, but the blanket did help him to keep warm.

Since the settlement was surrounded by ten huge walls, each at considerable distance one after the other, it was like they lived in a different world from the outside. The dangers outside the wall were numerous, but the life inside was mundane. Woohyun immersed himself in thoughts of his family, and hugged his blanket close.

What was unexpected was someone coming to sit next to him. When Woohyun turned to his side, he noticed Sunggyu was sitting right next to him, and it made Woohyun doubt his own skills since he had not noticed Sunggyu’s presence. Woohyun was aiming to be a guard after all, and he should be on alert all the time. But he had excuses definitely, he was busy looking at the sky and Sunggyu’s presence never meant danger for him, quite the contrary actually.

But yet he was going to have to fight with Sunggyu the day after tomorrow for the guard test, which meant he couldn’t let his guard down around Sunggyu or he would get used to it.

Sunggyu seemed to have returned from bathing too, as his hair seemed a bit wet. He was wearing simply a t-shirt and sweatpants, and that made Woohyun want to share his blanket, but he had to stay away from Sunggyu he decided. Practice and restraint was needed.

Sunggyu’s gaze was on the stars and Woohyun stayed with him for a while silently, after which he stood up. “Did you need to talk to me or something?”

Next to him, Sunggyu stood up too. “No, just felt like meeting you.” He was shivering a little in the cold.

“You can come inside.” Woohyun led him inside as Sunggyu followed him.

 

They settled on the bed next to each other, leaning on the wall which the bed was against, as the light from the small fireplace lit up the room.

“We should have gone to your house. There’s no place to even sit here. You have two chairs at least.” Woohyun said, stretching his legs out. A bug came to sit on his shoulder, so he flicked it away.

“The heating here is better. My house has cracks Woohyun. I can’t even sleep there.”

“What? Since when? Where do you sleep then?” Woohyun was sad Sunggyu had not told him about it. He was glad he didn’t have to share his space with Sunggyu though because his bed was small as it is, but Sunggyu should have told him about his problem.

“Since a few days. Most likely some idiots decided to train nearby instead of in the training places, and destroyed it with something. I have been sleeping at Dongwoo’s since three days.”

“Oh.”

“And Hoya’s coming over to Dongwoo’s place tonight. They had decided on their date a week ago, and Hoya doesn’t know I have been staying at Dongwoo’s place, he might get all possessive and jealous, so I did not want to risk letting him know about it.” Sunggyu explained further.

“And so you have nowhere to go now.”

“… Yes”

“And you came to stay over for the night.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll go stay at your place and you stay over here.” Woohyun declared.

“It’s cold in there, especially at night. You won’t be able to survive there.” Sunggyu protested.

“I can. I’ll just gather some of my stuff for my stay there. Make yourself comfortable here. I’ll return by seven tomorrow.” Woohyun moved to get up from the bed.

But a pair of arms caught him and put him back to his position leaning back on the wall.

The way Sunggyu looked at him made Woohyun feel a little guilty, but staying with Sunggyu for a whole night was not good. “I can survive there, really. Just let me go, okay?” Woohyun tried to convince him.

“If you have that much of a problem with it, I can go to Sungjong’s. I am sure he isn’t asleep yet.” Sunggyu said.

“No. Stay here.”

“Don’t you think this is illogical? What are you on Woohyun? Or do you have any problems with me?” Woohyun was being unreasonable, Sunggyu thought. The younger did not want to stay with him, yet was insistent on Sunggyu staying at his place. That made no sense.

“It’s not too much of a problem! It’s just that our exams are the day after tomorrow and I just don’t want any kind of distraction right now.”

“What distraction?”

Woohyun was narrowing his eyes at Sunggyu who was staring at him back angrily.

“You are a distraction.” Woohyun let out, his voice low and defeated.

There was just the sound of heavy breathing in the room as a battle of nerves was ensuing in the room. Sunggyu’s palms found their place on Woohyun’s bare lower thighs as he started stroking it, moving up slowly.

Woohyun wanted to give up like he did always, how he always succumbed to Sunggyu’s touches, but there was a nagging thought in the back of his mind that reminded him that he could not afford to get distracted now. The exam was just more than a day away. So he removed Sunggyu’s hands from his thighs, “What do you want Sunggyu?”

Sunggyu’s poker face made Woohyun angry and he felt like shaking him to get an answer from the man who was two years older to him. Despite being twenty seven, Sunggyu acted so much like a stubborn brat sometimes that Woohyun wanted to just punch him.

The two had actually come to blows once ten years ago, but there hadn’t been a repeat of that after that, and they tolerated each other for the most part. Oh, and they made good friends too. But the stubborn part of Sunggyu always irritated Woohyun to no end. You would think a person as lazy as Sunggyu would know to give up soon, but he wasn’t even tolerable like that.

So now it was the two of them having a staring contest.

“You came here for this reason right?”

Sunggyu looked confused for a moment, but returned to his poker face soon. “May-be.”

“Really hyung? We can’t be distracted now. You have to wait for two days and then we can do whatever we want. Besides, you came to me just three days ago. Wasn’t that enough?”

“It’s never enough for me Woohyun.”

There was a hint of blush on Woohyun’s face at that, but he tried to make it go, by thinking of other things. “Hmm I’ll blow you then. That’s alright for now, isn’t it?” Woohyun asked. They were past the stage of awkwardness and embarrassment, so Woohyun could speak about it as if he was talking about the weather.

Sunggyu’s expression changed however, as if what Woohyun said was scandalous, as if Woohyun was trying to make him leave by bribing him with a chocolate.

Woohyun was about to laugh at Sunggyu, when Sunggyu sighed heavily.

“It’s fine Woohyun ah. Just rest and sleep well. Otherwise I will be defeating you easily in the examination.” Sunggyu had a resigned tone, as he was stroking Woohyun’s right cheek with his hand.

The way Sunggyu’s posture sagged suddenly, how his eyes looked sad, made Woohyun feel as if something was very wrong with Sunggyu. The older had seemed out of it in the morning today too and they had chalked it up to his normal need to be by himself. He had seemed fine the rest of the day, but now the face he had, the smile he had on his face which was not quite reaching his eyes, made Woohyun certain there was something he didn’t know. There was no hint of the stubborn and playful Sunggyu who had been there just seconds ago.

And it felt even more wrong when the distance between them became less and less, and their lips were on top of each other. It was simply Sunggyu placing a kiss on Woohyun’s lips, but it was much more than that.

The kisses they had shared till now had never been random like that. It was always in the middle of sex, or during foreplay, that they got intimate with each other. All the other times, they were simply like how friends were and should be. It was no different from how the two of them were with Dongwoo or any of their other friends.

And the way Sunggyu was kissing Woohyun now was so different and way random that it gave Woohyun the creeps. He pushed away Sunggyu, feeling as if his lips were on fire.

The expression on Sunggyu’s face looked hurt, and Woohyun did not know what to do. He was lost. Sunggyu seemed lost too. And Woohyun really did not know what to do.

Sunggyu needed Woohyun his friend now, but Sunggyu also wanted Woohyun his fuck-buddy, with whom he can let himself out, who would satisfy him.

They were like lost puppies; except either of the two of them was going to snap soon and it would probably change a lot of things.

Not wanting that to happen, Woohyun made up his mind, and decided that the person in front of him meant too much to him, and he knew it, he had admitted it to himself a long time ago already.

So his priorities, he knew, where they lied.

If Sunggyu had the blessing of having big eyes, he would have liked them to be as big as they were now as he looked at Woohyun who was undressing himself. “What are you doing?” Sunggyu asked, disturbed.

The younger of the two had his upper body bare already and was removing his shorts, now left with only his briefs on. “Take me.” He said. Sunggyu’s unimpressed expression on hearing that made Woohyun want to just surrender from life in general. Sunggyu was being really confusing.

“I am not taking a pity fuck or something. Get dressed and sleep. I’ll go to Sungjong’s. Like you said, we have the test the day after tomorrow, and you can’t afford any distractions.” Sunggyu said, while his eyes roamed over Woohyun’s almost naked body at the same time.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Woohyun shouted. Then as if he realized that maybe he had been too loud, he hissed lowly, grabbing Sunggyu by the collar of his t-shirt. “You came here to fuck me right?”

“And I said I am not taking a pity fuck.” Sunggyu was growling.

And Woohyun would probably have been turned on by the aggressiveness, had he not been pissed off at Sunggyu’s attitude. “Sunggyu”

“Yes?”

“Just shut the fuck up and let me do what I want.” Woohyun growled, frustrated.

The older of the two looked surprised, and he would be, Woohyun had never stormed over him like that, but he was running out of options.

There was a harsh tug on Sunggyu’s shirt and in front of him was a determined Woohyun. “Fuck me Sunggyu.”

And yes, it was tempting to do that, fuck Woohyun, and get all out of his system, but something was holding Sunggyu back. It was frustrating him too, how annoyingly moody he was being, but…

Woohyun was done now though, done with the night, he was lying out sprawled in the cramped bed. Shifting himself, so he was laying his head over Sunggyu’s lap, he closed his eyes. “When you decide to be less confusing, let me know uh?” He said, adjusting himself to a comfortable position.

After a while of silence during which Woohyun’s hair was being brushed and played with by Sunggyu and after Woohyun had felt like he had calmed down, Sunggyu spoke up, “Hyunnie”

“Hmmm” Woohyun opened his eyes, staring up at the bastard who looked all nervous for some reason.

Before Woohyun could get up to look properly if Sunggyu was really being a shy fucker, Sunggyu cleared it out. “Can we do it the other way around?”

It took some time for Woohyun to register what Sunggyu was implying. When it did sink in, Woohyun face-palmed. “Hyung if you wanted me to do you, you should have just said that. The hell!” He got up from his position and stalked over Sunggyu like the older was a prey.

Sunggyu was looking at him as if he was a piece of art, and Woohyun wanted to say ‘wrong timing, I am ready to make you forget everything’, but why waste words, when actions can say it louder?

Woohyun had topped Sunggyu just once and though they were not very picky about positions, it almost always ended up being Sunggyu on the top. This was a rare chance that Sunggyu was on the bottom, and it made Woohyun feel things because for some reason Sunggyu had seemed vulnerable earlier, and Woohyun wanted to handle him with care, as much as he wanted to make him scream.

So he helped Sunggyu out of his clothes, until the older was only in his briefs too. The sooner the clothes were gone, the better. He took some time in admiring Sunggyu’s lean, soft body and the marks he had left behind days ago, fading but still visible. His hands traced Sunggyu’s back and down, until he reached the limit of his endurance. Sunggyu was really tempting.

He made the older lie down on the bed on his back and leaned over him.

Their hands were away from their bodies, as Woohyun interlinked their fingers and grinded over Sunggyu.

The older let out a soft moan, and Woohyun decided he would have to be on the top often from now, because how could he miss how precious Sunggyu was being?

Sunggyu was looking up at him, anticipating what Woohyun would do next. His body was trembling with want for the younger, and his heart wanting to be filled with whatever Woohyun could give him.

Woohyun almost broke down at the gaze bestowed on him, but he gathered his shit and leaned down closer to Sunggyu, murmuring, “I’ll make you mine tonight hyung, I’ll fill you until you are full and-”

He did not get the chance to finish the dirty talking, as he was pulled by Sunggyu crashing their lips together.

Guess who had reached their limit?

Sunggyu had separated their interlinked hands and was now pulling down Woohyun by the hips to feel more of him.

Woohyun’s tongue was making way into Sunggyu’s mouth and they were both trying to have more of the other in their own way, Woohyun trying to get more of the heat of Sunggyu’s mouth, and Sunggyu desperate to feel the burn between their bodies, each responding to the other’s desire.

When separation was needed, Woohyun pulled away, their mouths connecting in a string of saliva. Woohyun would have been embarrassed at how he had whined at being separated from Sunggyu when he had been the one to pull away first, but the lust was evident in Sunggyu’s eyes, and Woohyun had better things to think of.

They worked like a team, Sunggyu taking off his own briefs, pulling down Woohyun’s too and putting the condom over it, as Woohyun covered his fingers with the lube he had stashed next to the bed.

And then Woohyun was spreading Sunggyu apart, spreading his thighs, invading the tight heat with his fingers, and making him ready for what was to come next.

A groan slipped out of Sunggyu as the first finger entered, but soon he was chanting out Woohyun’s name along with begging him to just take him, as the younger teased him, by purposefully reaching the prostrate and then moving to other places.

Sunggyu was clenching his fists into the sheets below, and Woohyun took in the sight of the begging Sunggyu all spread out underneath him. It was like Woohyun’s wildest fantasies had come true. Most of the times it was a game of powerplay between them, and seeing Sunggyu being so obedient and pleading under him, made Woohyun feel powerful.

He pulled out his fingers giving one last attention to the prostrate, and moved to kiss Sunggyu in a frenzy.

Of course Sunggyu looked like he was about to cry, and Woohyun made him more teary, as he played with his nipples, flicking them and rubbing them, as he played with the pink tongue and bit his favourite thin lips.

And then a loud moan slipped out of Sunggyu’s mouth as Woohyun entered him slowly, taking care not to hurt him by sudden movements. It had been a long while since Sunggyu had had something inside of him and Woohyun did not want it to be painful for him.

The sounds of skin slapping against skin covered the house as Woohyun pulled up and started fucking Sunggyu properly and carefully. His hands were holding on to those luscious thighs and he bent down to leave marks over it. The small noises Sunggyu was letting out was driving Woohyun over the edge.

He gave some attention to Sunggyu’s member too, stroking for a while, and then picking up his pace of thrusting in him.

They were both out of their minds when they came, the orgasm too strong.

 

Sunggyu watched silently as Woohyun pulled out, some of the cum spilling on to the sheets. The sheets were never a bother, because they would have to be washed anyway, Woohyun could even sleep without them if required. What was a bother was how sexy Woohyun looked, how his skin glistened with sweat and the effort he had put into taking Sunggyu caringly and pleasingly. And what was really a bother was how much Sunggyu wanted him.

After cleaning them with wet tissues, Woohyun got down from the bed and bent down to gather up his clothes, Sunggyu’s clothes in the other hand, moving to put them aside for washing. He turned to do something else, and Sunggyu called out, “Woohyun”

“Eoh?” Woohyun turned to him.

“Come here.”

His puppy obediently came to him. Something in Sunggyu broke at the sight of Woohyun being in a good mood and how he was humming to one of his compositions, the one he had made Sunggyu listen to days ago, the one which Sunggyu had liked a lot.

The smile on Woohyun’s face was something that hurt Sunggyu even more, it would make him feel disgusting later, he knew. Shaking his mind off the thoughts, he decided to focus on the present. What he had currently was a lot, he was blessed to have Woohyun in his life, someone who understood him, someone who was his equal or even more, someone who satisfied him, someone whom Sunggyu wanted to satisfy, whose needs he wanted to take care of, someone who Sunggyu never wanted to hurt.

A warm hand caressing his cheek broke Sunggyu out of his thoughts.

“Gyu”

There was something in Woohyun’s eyes which Sunggyu could relate to, he knew what that expression meant and he hoped it was not what he was thinking. Before he could think more about it, a pair of lips covered his own; the kiss was gentle and short. And Woohyun was looking at him with the same caring look, and Sunggyu couldn’t take it anymore.

He brought Woohyun onto the bed, making him lie down, and started pressing kisses all over him. He started from kissing on the temple, moving to the nose and then to his favourite plump lips.

The two spent a while just playing with their tongues and tasting the other’s mouth, then Sunggyu moved down to have more of the man under him. He peppered his chest with soft wet kisses, moving to his stomach upon which Woohyun started giggling and Sunggyu wanted to hear more of it, but it also made him crazy, so he moved to press kisses over to his waist.

Spending a little more time there, so as to tease Woohyun, he rubbed along Woohyun’s sides just to have the feeling of the warm skin under his hands.

He missed the place on Woohyun’s body which was aching the most for him, and moved to the thick thighs. Woohyun muttered some curse words, but Sunggyu was having fun licking and biting over the thighs.

When even he couldn’t tolerate the wait to have Woohyun anymore, Sunggyu moved to lick over the already hard cock in front of him.

Woohyun let out an embarrassing sound and covered his mouth with his hands to stop more of that from coming, but he couldn’t control himself, as Sunggyu started taking him inside his mouth, hollowing his mouth to make Woohyun see the stars.

Before Woohyun came however, Sunggyu pulled away and what happened thereafter was something Woohyun wouldn’t be able to forget for a long, long time.

 

It was getting close to midnight, and Woohyun couldn’t sleep. The sound of steady breathing next to him indicated to him that Sunggyu was deep asleep.

Slowly, so as to not wake up Sunggyu, he stood up from the bed. The two had been sleeping almost tangled, but luckily Woohyun’s limbs had been over Sunggyu’s and he could separate from the older without waking him up.

Soundlessly snatching off the keys to Sunggyu’s house, he ran over to the other’s house in the dark of the night.

It was just two houses next to him, so he managed to survive the cold in his t-shirt and shorts.

He could have worn something better to protect himself from the cold, he thought, as he noticed that the inside of the house was definitely cold, as Sunggyu had explained earlier, but he had no time, and was barely able to control himself back there.

Now that he was inside, he fell down to the ground, after closing the door behind him and leaned against it.

The ground had a carpet, so it wasn’t cold, and even the freezing weather inside the house wasn’t enough to make him any less hard.

Woohyun slipped his right hand inside his shorts, and began stroking himself. It was hard, so hard. What had Sunggyu been thinking playing with Woohyun like that?

Woohyun’s left hand went to his nipple, pinching it as he let the images of the night return to him.

After sucking him until he was close to come, Sunggyu had moved to rim Woohyun’s hole. It had made Woohyun feel all sorts of flustered because it was the first time they were doing this.

Woohyun had read stuff about gay sex from whatever sources and books he could find from the restricted section of the village library, and though there were some things he had wanted to try with Sunggyu, rimming was not one of the things he had been looking forward to. And he definitely did not want to experience it again, or maybe he did.

It had made him really flustered and he was sure he had been making all kinds of weird noises as Sunggyu’s tongue had swirled inside his heat. He had wanted to tell Sunggyu to use the lube and get over with it, but the tongue had reached deeper and Woohyun had come then.

He remembered how some of his cum had landed on Sunggyu’s face and how Sunggyu had seemed really pleased with himself, and that damn smirk on his face- it made him want to go back to Sunggyu, wake him up from his sleep and ask him to take Woohyun again.

But Sunggyu wasn’t here, and no, Woohyun was not going to go ask for another round from the older. That would make him feel ashamed, especially after what happened earlier.

_Sunggyu did not stop after making Woohyun come using his tongue. Woohyun was pulled into his lap as he was trying to come down from his high, and before he could make sense of what was going on, he could feel Sunggyu’s mouth and fingers on his nipples._

_His buds were already sensitive from the cold, and the contrast of Sunggyu’s warm mouth and wet tongue on his skin gave him goose bumps. Sunggyu’s hands ran over his back as his mouth was buried in Woohyun’s chest sucking his nipples, giving the both of them equal attention by switching._

_Woohyun was growing hard for the third time tonight, and the older was equally hard too, he could feel that, as their erections touched between their bodies._

_The pale, long fingers dipped to his backside and separated his cheeks and Woohyun was already fucked (literally too) as Sunggyu looked up, moving his focus from Woohyun’s chest to his lips._

_They tasted each other once again, Woohyun realizing he was tasting himself too, and then under the guidance of Sunggyu’s hands, he raised his hips up and sank into the erect member below him. It took him all his willpower to not scream, Sunggyu being in an equally hard position as Woohyun felt Sunggyu’s fingers digging into his waist, just like Woohyun’s nails were branding themselves on Sunggyu’s shoulders._

His member was all wet and slick and Woohyun wanted to finger himself too, but he did not want to dirty Sunggyu’s place. Who would clean it later? So he recalled Sunggyu’s expressions from earlier when Woohyun had been bouncing over him, and branded them to his memory, as he came into his palm, being careful not to let it spill anywhere.

After cleaning up with the water from the container in the corner of the room, Woohyun walked back to his house, locking up Sunggyu’s.

 

There were about ten students in the room, watching the ongoing match. Their trainers had left for a break, and the students were left to their own devices to practice.

So the ten of those present in that training room had decided to spar against each other in a wrestling match.

It was the seventh match being held now and Woohyun looked around the room to count how many people were eliminated already. Those who had been eliminated were all getting ready to leave, while the others were waiting for the next match.

Soon it was turn for the final match as all the other contenders had been eliminated. And Woohyun stepped into the ring for the match. Who was his opponent?

Kim Sunggyu, of course.

The training room was empty now as Sunggyu for some reason, had shooed away anyone who wanted to watch the match. Woohyun wouldn’t have minded anyone being there, there would be audience for tomorrow’s match anyway, but he appreciated the lack of audience too, since his ass was a bit sore from yesterday, Sunggyu’s might be too, and it wouldn’t be good for people to be witness to the two of them being weak in any fights.

It had been a month since he had last sparred with Sunggyu, but upon noticing Sunggyu in the training room today, he had thought it would be good to judge his skills once again before the exam tomorrow, since it was most likely going to be a match between the two of them for the position of the head guard, unless any unexpected contenders appeared or unexpected situations arose. They had to score higher points than the other.

When training in fighting against zombies, they had different fighting techniques, which involved focus on attacking on the brains of the zombies, since that’s how you kill one. There was also focus on how to keep lightweight and yet be protected from getting bitten by the creatures all of a sudden. Most of the fighting techniques thought to them were those which would protect them from the undead.

Those wouldn’t be helpful in the fight now, as humans were not as brainless as zombies.

The two circled around, each waiting for the other to attack.

Woohyun had good mental training, to keep his mind focused at the match. Judging from how Sunggyu suddenly changed his posture, he believed the older was getting ready to attack.

So he attacked before Sunggyu could, pouncing on Sunggyu suddenly and throwing him to the ground. The rules were to throw the opponent out of the ring, but making the opponent defenceless first would be a good strategy.

However, it backfired for Woohyun as Sunggyu embraced him tight and turned them around, so he was on the top now. And then Sunggyu was tickling him.

Woohyun wanted to protest that Sunggyu was cheating, but he couldn’t speak up anything and Sunggyu was dragging him to the edge to end him.

Pretending that he was still ticklish, Woohyun slipped out of Sunggyu’s clutches, but the older was quick and pinned him to the ground again.

Woohyun did not let go, and they were rolling on the ground over each other. Woohyun wanted to laugh at the sorry excuse of a match that this was. If any of their trainers would see them fighting like this, they would banish them from fighting again, but no one was here, so they continued rolling childishly.

Luck wasn’t on their side as someone entered the room. Thankfully, it was only Heechul who made them scatter off from the room.

The sun shone, directly overhead, as they stepped out of the training centre. The two walked through the woods after exiting the training centre, Sunggyu entering it for some reason, and Woohyun following him mindlessly. The woods weren’t dangerous, there were only dogs, birds, insects and small animals living there. But it was definitely quite random of Sunggyu to choose to go there.

After some time of mindless wandering on Woohyun’s part, Sunggyu brought him in front of him just as Woohyun was about to follow a bunny to its home.

“What are you doing?” Sunggyu asked.

“What are you doing?” Woohyun replied.

Sunggyu tsked, but sat down on a rock, indicating Woohyun to sit in front of him on the other rock. “I am going to visit your family.”

“My family?” Woohyun asked surprised, while remaining standing.

“Yes, and Sungjong’s family too. Just feel like visiting them.”

“Uh… okay. Is it because you want to seek their blessings or something for tomorrow?”

“That too.” Sunggyu said. “I asked Sungjong in the morning, and he said he would be busy training, so he can’t come. Are you free to go with me now?”

“It would take a few hours travelling back and forth hyung. It would be exhausting and like Sungjong said, I need to practice too.” Woohyun admitted.

“Okay. I will visit them by myself then.” Sunggyu said, standing up, dusting his pants.

“Is it necessary though? They might be here early tomorrow before the test and they will be all here for the ceremony after the exam anyway. You can meet them then right?”

“I… just miss them.”

Woohyun snorted. “Look who’s saying that.”

“Yeah, I will inform your brother how you have been missing him and how you cried that day because you were missing your mom and dad.”

“You wouldn’t.” Woohyun threatened, all flared up.

“They already know anyway.” Sunggyu said, laughing, and ruffling Woohyun’s hair. “So cute” He mumbled.

And Woohyun was getting really messed up by all the feelings he was having. Before he could think more about it, he spoke up, “Whatever. Anyway, I promised Boohyun hyung that the next time he sees me, he will be seeing the new head guard of the village, so I will have to wait one more day to see them yeah.” Woohyun smirked.

The statement dampened Sunggyu’s smile, and Woohyun wanted to hit himself for making Sunggyu’s smile go away, yet at the same time, he also wanted to defeat Sunggyu.

“What? Scared of losing to me?” Woohyun challenged.

“You would make a good head guard, Woohyun.” Saying that, Sunggyu left, lifting up his hand to bid goodbye, leaving Woohyun behind officially confused.

 

He was so close to having his ass beat by Myungsoo, but at the right time Myungsoo was out of the ring, and Woohyun was the victor of the match. It was the last match for the day, and Woohyun decided to retire for the evening. It was almost eight in the evening anyway, and he decided to go to sleep by ten.

He had dinner with Sungyeol and Sungjong, the rest still practising.

The two were bickering as always and oh, Hoya was with them too, except he was snoring on the table, due to the exhaustion from his practice today. He was done with his dinner though, so they weren’t going to wake him up, until they left, or until Sungyeol came up with some idea like coloring on his face.

Myungsoo decided to spare everyone from the fight that would ensue in case that happened and decided to carry Hoya to his house.

In the meanwhile, Woohyun had snatched some food from the maknae’s plate and was about to do the same for Sungyeol, but then the two pairs of eyes turned to him, and he stopped in his attempt.

“What?” He enquired.

“What’s wrong with Sunggyu hyung?” Sungyeol asked.

“Huh? What? What are you talking about?”

“Hyung, weren’t you listening to what we were discussing?” Sungjong looked annoyed.

“No…” Woohyun prayed that the two wouldn’t gang up on him, as Sungyeol resumed eating.

Sungjong huffed in irritation. “Silly hyung.”

“Whom are you calling silly brat?” Woohyun and Sungyeol said in unison.

“Sunggyu hyung” Sungjong clarified. He turned to Woohyun. “He went to meet my parents today.”

“Ah, I know.” Woohyun said, going back to eating too.

“Don’t you think it’s odd?” Sungjong asked.

“It is.”

“They are coming tomorrow after all. He might be missing them, I get that, I miss them too, but going to visit today is so unusual. It does not make sense at all. What do you think?”

“Since when did Sunggyu do things that made sense?” Woohyun said unbothered. The truth was, he was bothered internally. That could be because he was a little bothered by his behaviour yesterday too, but Sunggyu seemed fine the other times. Though the older was good at hiding his emotions, so Woohyun was even more worried. But he didn’t want to make a big issue out of it. If Sunggyu needed help, he would tell them wouldn’t he? He would at least tell Dongwoo, if not anyone. He had to trust them at least that much.

“Always?” Sungyeol supplied.

“Did he tell Dongwoo anything?” Woohyun asked.

“No. Hyung was worried too when I asked him about this.” Sungjong said.

“Hmm, I will talk to him when he returns. Don’t worry okay? I will make sure everything is alright.” Woohyun said, standing up to leave. “And I hope you do well tomorrow.” He looked at both Sungyeol and Sungjong. “I want you in my team after all.”

“You are being over confident dude.” Sungyeol teased.

“Whatever it is, I want to be the head guard.” Woohyun said determined.

“Do you think you will be able to defeat Sunggyu hyung?” He asked.

“I don’t know. I will try my best to win though.”

“Okay. Then I will support you” Sungyeol said.

“Really?” Woohyun asked, touched.

“And Sunggyu hyung too.” Sungyeol finished.

Woohyun flipped him off and left the two behind, as he walked away, Sungjong laughing at their antics.

 

Woohyun was bathing in one of the stalls when he heard Dongwoo’s voice from outside. The older was talking to someone, but the other person was speaking in a low voice, so Woohyun couldn’t hear their voice.

When Woohyun was done, and exited his stall, he noticed Dongwoo sitting on the ground inside, next to the entrance of the bathhouse. He walked to the older.

“What’s up?” He said, patting Dongwoo on the shoulder.

“Oh Woohyun!” Dongwoo pulled him down, greeting him with a hug.

“I am not Oh Woohyun, I am Nam Woohyun.” Woohyun made a stupid joke.

But Dongwoo laughed anyway. Sometimes, Woohyun wanted to hug Dongwoo and hide him from the world, keeping him for himself. The older was laughing at a joke which would have earned Woohyun a kick from Sunggyu and Hoya.

He remembered how in his childhood, he had felt jealous of Sunggyu for having Dongwoo as his friend.

Now that Woohyun was Dongwoo’s friend too, he took full advantage of it, as he sat down next to him, leaning on his shoulder. “How are you?” Woohyun asked.

“I am fine. We just met yesterday Woohyun.” Dongwoo put his hand behind Woohyun, bringing him closer, and Woohyun was half in Dongwoo’s lap now, but he welcomed the warmth.

“You smell nice.” Woohyun said.

“What did you say?” Uh, oh. Hoya was looming over them.

Woohyun looked at Dongwoo, who looked unperturbed. However, Hoya was giving him a murderous look and Woohyun was undecided about whether to run the fuck out of there, or just snuggle more into Dongwoo.

Dongwoo made the decision for him, as he stood up suddenly, made Hoya sit in his place, and picking up Woohyun, he placed him onto Hoya’s lap, then leaving the two behind after telling them to behave like good boys till he returned.

Woohyun was sure he was going to be thrown onto the ground, he was bracing for when his face would meet the earth, but Hoya’s strong arms were surrounding him, and Woohyun looked incredulously at the younger, who was looking elsewhere, the tips of his ears red.

“Wow” It slipped out of Woohyun involuntarily, and thinking that staying like this was much better than being thrown on the ground, he snuggled into Hoya.

“What are you waiting here for?” Woohyun asked him.

“Dongwoo hyung is waiting for Sunggyu hyung. Hyung is taking a bath.” Hoya said. “And I am waiting for them. Apparently Sunggyu hyung’s been staying at Dongwoo hyung’s place since his house needs repairs.”

“Oh.” Woohyun did not tell him he already knew that. He rubbed Hoya’s abs through his shirt just to tease him, and the younger’s grip on him tightened. “I wanted to talk to Sunggyu hyung. So I was wondering if he could stay over at my place today.” Woohyun said.

“He was saying he wanted to stay over at your place tonight, but he wasn’t sure you would agree.” Hoya replied.

“Is that so?” Woohyun mumbled. He was getting drowsy, but then one of the stall doors opened, and Woohyun turned around to look.

Sunggyu stepped out, wearing a loose t-shirt and shorts, similar to Woohyun’s attire. And Dongwoo was by Sunggyu’s side, helping him dry his hair.

Woohyun did not like it when Dongwoo touched Sunggyu. Dongwoo was naturally touchy, even touchier with Sunggyu. But it had always made Woohyun feel sour, even though he knew they were only friends. He was jealous of Sunggyu for having a friend like Dongwoo, and jealous of Dongwoo for being allowed to touch Sunggyu, but he realized he had both of that, and he should just stop being sour for once and always.

Sunggyu was looking at him, if Woohyun was correct in determining the direction of the gaze of those small cute eyes.

“You should get up or Sunggyu will skin me alive.” Hoya said.

“Why?” Woohyun asked curiously.

“Oh god, haven’t you noticed how he’s been glaring in this direction since he got out?”

“Bullshit. On the other hand, aren’t you jealous your boyfriend’s so close to Sunggyu?”

Woohyun was surprised to see Hoya did not look jealous. “I am used to it.” Hoya shrugged.

It made Woohyun feel childish and he wanted to hit Hoya for being mature or just pretending to be mature, but then a cough came from next to him, and he looked up to see that Sunggyu was standing in front of them.

The oldest bent down to sit in front of them. Woohyun turned to face him, while still in Hoya’s lap, the younger’s hand around his waist.

“Can I stay at your place tonight?” Sunggyu asked. “Yes. I was going to ask you to come over tonight too.” Woohyun replied.

“Good.” Sunggyu said, and holding Woohyun’s chin with one hand, he crashed their lips together.

Woohyun could hear the sound of Hoya cursing from behind him, but Sunggyu was already pulling him onto his lap, and standing up, wrapping Woohyun’s legs around his waist.

Though the sudden random kissing felt odd again, Woohyun welcomed it heartily, he had missed Sunggyu and for some reason he felt like keeping the older close to him, and not letting him out of his sight. That was more because of the fact that he was concerned about how Sunggyu had unexpectedly gone to visit their actual homes back in the center of the village.

Sunggyu must have gone to visit his own old home too. Or not, because that shit was not liveable, after all Sunggyu never stayed for long in that ghost house, always trying to stay out. Sunggyu and his dad used to live there together and the house was all lively. But then, Sunggyu’s dad had passed away some years ago, and the house had gone to rot, since Sunggyu did not take care of it. It was in good shape, but really dirty, except for Sunggyu’s and his dad’s room in there. Sunggyu would have lunch and dinner along with Sungjong’s family who were his neighbours, and work for the rest of the day when he used to live there alone.

Woohyun’s mind was taken out of those thoughts as Sunggyu nipped at his jaw, and Woohyun stopped him. It wouldn’t do well to have visible marks on his skin where the examiners could see them tomorrow.

Sunggyu left him there after murmuring in his ear that he would be waiting for him in front of his house.

There were two students in some distance watching at Woohyun teasingly, and Woohyun wanted to tell them to fuck off, but he wasn’t in the mood to pick up any fights, nor were they disturbing him in any way, so he started walking back to his house.

 

Sunggyu was already there, leaning against the door. “Come on fast Woohyun!” He said, pulling Woohyun with him eagerly.

Once inside, Woohyun was pinned to the door as Sunggyu was kissing him roughly, his hands roaming all over Woohyun’s body. Woohyun was in half mind to tell him to stop. They couldn’t have sex today, if they wanted to be able to fight tomorrow, and if things went in the normal direction, Woohyun was going to be fucked and he couldn’t have that. He had to defeat Sunggyu tomorrow.

He opened his mouth to protest, but a moan left his mouth as Sunggyu held his hips in place, grinding against Woohyun.

Woohyun, against his body’s protests, pushed Sunggyu away. He did not like doing that; he did not normally have to do that, since most of the times it was him going to Sunggyu for relieving himself of the stress. However, Sunggyu had been too insistent yesterday night despite Woohyun trying to refuse him initially, and it seemed like tonight was going to be the same.

But no, Woohyun was not going to let that happen tonight. “Sunggyu, I need to talk to you.”

“Later.” Sunggyu said, immediately latching on to Woohyun again. His hand cupped Woohyun’s clothed member, and his lips attached to the neck.

“Gyu, please” It was hard for Woohyun to control himself when Sunggyu was being like that. When those fingers left his length, he whined at the loss.

He was picked up by Sunggyu in his arms and the older walked to the bed, placing him on it and leaning over him. “Don’t worry. I just wanted to give you a blow Woohyun-ah.” Sunggyu said, spreading Woohyun’s legs and leaning down to place a kiss on the clothed half-hard member.

Woohyun had a barrage of curse words at the tip of his tongue, but then Sunggyu spoke, “Can the talk be postponed till after I have had my dinner?”

Woohyun wanted to throw Sunggyu out of the window, alas it wouldn’t hurt Sunggyu since they were on ground level. Maybe he should kick the older out of the bed. Sunggyu still had the audacity to look at him directly, while Woohyun was sure he was as red as a tomato. “Y-you…” He started, but gave up, bringing the older down over him and kissing him on the mouth.

Woohyun would never get tired of kissing Sunggyu. It was now over two years that they were using each other like this, yet he couldn’t get bored of this ever. The first few times had been awkward, with Woohyun fearing if it would affect their friendship and Sunggyu trying to be extra careful with Woohyun, and they had ended up doing stupid mistakes a lot of times, but now their bodies fitted each other perfectly, rather the feeling of Sunggyu’s body against his felt right.

His hands slipped under Sunggyu’s shirt roaming over his back, and Sunggyu let his entire body weight on top of Woohyun, lazily kissing him. They slowed down after some time, and Sunggyu looked at him.

“What do you want to talk about?”

Woohyun pulled Sunggyu’s face into his chest, because his gaze on him was as if he scrutinizing him, and it made him self-conscious. That was also a disadvantage though because he couldn’t check Sunggyu’s face for answers. “Are you alright hyung?”

“I am fine.” Sunggyu mumbled.

“You are not lying to me right?”

There were some seconds of silence and then Sunggyu repeated. “I am fine.”

“Gyu, I hope you know that I am always there for you. We are always there for you. Sungjong is really worried about you. Others are worried too. And-” Sunggyu had his head completely hidden now in Woohyun’s t-shirt, and Woohyun wanted to bring him up to face him. “I lo-” Okay. Wrong timing. “I like you.”

Sunggyu looked up at that. His face looked sad, but it still did not reveal anything.

“You mean a lot to me.” Woohyun said, rolling around, so he was now leaning over Sunggyu. “And you can trust me. You have to trust me okay?”

Sunggyu closed his eyes, and his features screamed pain all of a sudden and Woohyun wanted to keep Sunggyu with him forever, and hurt whoever or whatever hurt Sunggyu. Was it Woohyun who had done something wrong? It could be possible.

“Did I do anything wrong?” Woohyun asked, coming to the conclusion that maybe he had unknowingly caused Sunggyu pain somehow. Or was their relationship not enough anymore? Woohyun tried to refuse Sunggyu yesterday, and even today he had asked Sunggyu to stop. When Sunggyu did not answer, Woohyun was growing anxious. His voice cracked, as he asked again, “Please tell me did I do anything wrong? Am I h-hurting you? Do you want to stop? Do you hate me? I-”

A finger on his mouth stopped him from speaking further. Sunggyu had his eyes opened and he was looking worriedly at Woohyun. He pulled the hair falling over Woohyun’s eyes away from them, and held his face in his hands. “You are amazing Nam Woohyun. Don’t ever doubt yourself. You mean a lot to me too. I am glad to have met you.”

Woohyun could feel the sincerity in his eyes. But why did this feel like a goodbye?

“Woohyun-ah, tell me, if somehow we got separated, what would you do?”

The sudden question took him by surprise. Woohyun sat up and Sunggyu slowly followed suit, waiting for his answer. “What do you mean?” Woohyun asked, upset at the way Sunggyu was being.

 “If suddenly one day I was not with you, what would you do? You would continue living right? Our life is not constant, changes keep on happening and-”

“That wouldn’t happen.” Woohyun interrupted. “We won’t be separated.”

“You can’t be sure of that.” Sunggyu protested.

“I am sure. Or do you have someone you like now?” The thought hurt him, but he tried to not let it show.

But Sunggyu was laughing. Woohyun was glad something made Sunggyu laugh, but there was nothing funny in what he had said.

“Who is it? Have I become boring now?” Woohyun asked anxious, because it was possible. A lot of people desired Sunggyu, and it was not impossible that Sunggyu had started liking someone. Sunggyu was not in a committed relationship with Woohyun that they would stay like that forever. Now that he thought of it, he was being foolish by saying he was sure that they wouldn’t be separated. Of course they would be separated, when either of them found someone they liked. In Woohyun’s case, he liked Sunggyu a lot, so there was no chance that he was going to leave Sunggyu, but Sunggyu had no commitment to Woohyun.

His anxiety might have shown on his face, because Sunggyu was looking at him, as if studying him.

“What?” Woohyun asked.

“Am I boring? Is that what you want to say?” Sunggyu asked, an amused smile on his lips. The sadness was still there, though.

“When did I say that?”

“Then why would you assume I am bored of you?”

“Because you are talking of separating!”

“I am talking of a hypothetical situation.”

“I don’t want to talk of such situations! If you ever think of separating, I am not going to let that happen!” Woohyun realized what he was saying, and shut up after his outburst. This was as good as saying he loved Sunggyu. They had not talked about their feelings for each other like that. They weren’t like that. Woohyun would want to kiss Sunggyu randomly sometimes when the older was being himself, or when he would smile that lovely smile of his. But he had never acted on it. Their intimacy was restricted to whenever they needed each other. And Woohyun could anytime go to Sunggyu if he missed him. He had never felt the need to define their relationship. But as time passed, he had realized how much he loved Sunggyu, and there was always the thought at the back of his mind whether Sunggyu liked him back, but he hadn’t thought much of it.

Now was the time to think of it.

He realized he was binding Sunggyu to himself. Sunggyu probably never liked him. The older did like him, but as a friend. And Sunggyu was probably frustrated that he couldn’t end his relationship with Woohyun without hurting him. The thought made Woohyun depressed. It was not his wish to force Sunggyu into something. Sunggyu’s happiness meant the most to him, and he couldn’t steal that from him. “I am sorry.” He said.

“Why?” Sunggyu asked. He had been silent all the while, waiting for Woohyun to speak.

Woohyun on the other hand was frustrated he had not seen the signs before. This was terrible timing. The exams were tomorrow. They were supposed to go to sleep. But he wouldn’t be able to sleep after this revelation. So might as well get over with it. Woohyun shifted, so he was not touching Sunggyu anymore.

Sunggyu looked at his actions inquisitively, but did not comment.

“You are free to love whoever you want.” Woohyun managed to say. “I won’t force you to stay with me. Just… don’t forget me. I-I w-want to remain your friend.”

“What are you thinking, Woohyunie?” Sunggyu finally spoke and his voice broke. “I don’t have anyone I love. I just wanted to know what you would do in case we got separated.”

“Really?” Woohyun asked sceptical.

“Yes.” Sunggyu affirmed.

“You know what I would do in case you wanted to get separated? I would tell you, you are stupid for thinking about all of this on the night before our most important exams! Why are you doing this Sunggyu? Hyung?”

His words hurt Sunggyu because the older went to lie on the bed, hiding his face. “I just wanted to know.” Sunggyu said.

Woohyun decided he would think about all of this tomorrow, once they were done with the exams. The thing was, Woohyun had been planning since months that once he would become the head guard, he would propose to Sunggyu. It was highly ambitious of him, to think of proposing when he did not even know if the older liked him. Only their five friends knew about Woohyun’s plans.

The ring Woohyun had selected from the collection of antiques they had in the village storage room was beautiful. He had given it to Sungjong to keep it away from Sunggyu’s eyes, and was planning to get it from the maknae tomorrow after the selection of guards. Even if Sunggyu did not accept his proposal, no worries, Woohyun had thought, they could still remain friends. But then, Woohyun had not known that the chances of Sunggyu rejecting his proposal was 99%.

Now that he knew, he couldn’t propose to Sunggyu tomorrow. He had been planning to go ahead with the proposal even if Sunggyu, or by any chance, someone else became the head guard. But now….

Thinking about it now, was of no use. Once they would be done with the exams tomorrow, Woohyun would think about everything with a calm mind. So he approached Sunggyu calmly. “Gyu hyung”

“Hmmm”

“Please look at me”

Sunggyu turned around and looked at Woohyun. His eyes looked red, as if he was trying not to cry, and it hurt Woohyun a lot. He had promised Sungjong he would be making things alright, and this was not alright.

Woohyun took a deep breath. “If we separate, you are free to live your life as you want, like I said earlier. I just want us to remain friends forever.” His heart was in pain, and he wanted to run over to Sungyeol or Myungsoo or even his mom or Boohyun hyung, he couldn’t handle the pain.

Sunggyu brought him in his arms and made them lie down on the bed, as if sensing his pain.

Woohyun couldn’t stop himself anymore and started crying into Sunggyu’s t-shirt. He was pathetic. Why couldn’t Sunggyu love him? Why was he so pathetic? He was trained to be a guard. Why couldn’t he control his emotions? He was supposed to only concentrate on the exams. Why was he such a loser? Why did he have to fall in love with Sunggyu? Fuck the head guard position, would Woohyun even be able to maintain the respect of the position of a guard? A loser like him wasn’t supposed to be the guard.

Sunggyu ran his fingers over Woohyun’s hair massaging his scalp, and that brought Woohyun out of his thoughts, and he noticed Sunggyu had tears on his face too. He tried to wipe them away, but there were new tears flowing down. Why was Sunggyu crying? He tried to look at Sunggyu’s face for answers, but he realized the older was crying harder than him. Why?

“G-Gyu” Woohyun said, wiping away the tears as they slipped through Sunggyu’s eyes. “Baby” He placed a kiss over Sunggyu’s lips, and pressed their foreheads together, after separating. “Don’t cry please.”

After some time, when the two had calmed down, Sunggyu took Woohyun’s hands in his own. “Nam Woohyun” He said. His voice was cracked from crying. “Promise me that if we were to ever separate, you would never let it get you down. You would live your life like before and be happy always. Promise me that.”

It was a difficult promise to make. But could he try to fulfil that? Would Sunggyu leave him now if he promised that? Sunggyu wouldn’t hurt him like that, would he? No he wouldn’t. He probably just had a lot of bad thoughts, and was concerned about Woohyun. That was what Woohyun wanted to believe. And so he believed that.

Because he did not want Sunggyu to cry anymore, he answered, nodding. “I promise.”

Those two words made Sunggyu really happy and that made Woohyun scared, but then Sunggyu was hugging him in happiness and thanking him and not crying anymore, so Woohyun tried to forget about the oddness of the situation and went to sleep in the arms of a smiling Sunggyu.

 

 

 


	3. 02. heart

 

 

 

Sunggyu was in the training room, alone. It was seven in the morning, yet there weren’t students training today, because it was the day of examinations. The exam was going to be conducted at noon, and there were still some hours left, so Sunggyu decided to practice. He had missed practising after morning yesterday. And an empty practising room was ideal for him, even though he wouldn’t get hand on hand action.

Students stayed away from training on the day of examinations generally since they did not want to get exhausted and risk getting hurt during training. So, it was Sunggyu training alone. Who was he kidding? Hoya was there too. The boy seriously had endless stamina.

When Sunggyu entered the room, the first thing Hoya had asked him was if he was fine.

And by now all six of his friends had asked Sunggyu the same question.

Was Sunggyu fine?

He was.

Was Sunggyu happy about what he was going to do today?

No he wasn’t. But he would be fine. And so would everyone.

 

The stands were filled with people. And outside the village hall, in the huge garden, seating arrangements were made, so that masses of people could listen to the proceedings of events in the hall. An announcer from inside the hall relayed the proceedings through a speaker to the audience outside.

The stands inside were for relatives of the candidates taking part in the examination today.

Woohyun searched for his family in the crowd and found his mother and father waving at him. He waved back trying to look happy. Boohyun was nowhere to be found in the stands and that made him more upset. He considered going to his parents and asking them where his brother was, just so he could have a glimpse of him, but then his gaze fell to the entrance of the hall near him where his brother and Sunggyu were talking.

The two seemed to be having a heated discussion and Woohyun was dying to know what they were talking about but he did not want to meet face to face with any of them.

If he met Boohyun, his brother would know something was wrong with him.

If he met Sunggyu, Woohyun did not know how to react.

Also, that was the reason why Woohyun was avoiding any of his friends, as they would be unnecessarily worried about him.

As Myungsoo was heading in his direction, Woohyun tried to avoid him by running to his right, but then someone caught hold of his hand, and it was Boohyun.

His brother took him to a room nearby and locked the door behind him.

Sunggyu was nowhere near him, so Woohyun was half relieved.

“Is everything fine Woohyun?” Boohyun asked, looking worried.

“I am fine.” Woohyun replied, trying to avoid his eyes.

Boohyun did not seem satisfied with his answer, nevertheless he nodded, “Hyunnie, if something goes wrong, remember your brother is always there with you. Eoh?”

The words sounded ominous, but Woohyun nodded to it. “Hyung I am not a baby anymore. I am an adult. Twenty five years now, don’t worry about me!” He tried to do aegyo by making his eyes big.

“What adult?” Boohyun laughed, and left after ruffling Woohyun’s hair.

Woohyun pouted, but followed him outside and after talking to his parents for a while, his mood turned a bit happier.

He tried to concentrate on the exams, though there was still something disturbing him. Twenty minutes to the start of the exam, Woohyun decided to enter the examination hall. Entry would be closed in fifteen minutes, so he stood in the queue of students.

Hoya came to him and Woohyun did not want to avoid any of his friends now, since he was feeling better, so he left the queue to meet Hoya halfway.

“Gyu hyung is calling you.” Hoya pointed to the corner of a street. And true enough, Woohyun could see a figure there.

Woohyun did not want to go though, but it was not like he could avoid Sunggyu his entire life. That Sunggyu wanted to see him right before the exam though annoyed him. He walked to the corner begrudgingly and when he reached there, the figure pulled him away from the crowd to a secluded place.

It was Sunggyu, of course. Woohyun was a bit cross at him for leaving like that in the morning, without waking him up. But they were like that sometimes, even Woohyun did that many a times, so who was he to complain?

Sunggyu’s face was in a frown, he looked sad, and Woohyun wanted to wipe that sadness from his face. No matter what, he cared for Sunggyu a lot. Whether Sunggyu loved him or not, Woohyun still liked him a lot. With that thought in his mind, he used his index fingers to bring the corners of Sunggyu’s lips up in a smile.

Sunggyu smiled finally for real, and it made Woohyun smile too.

“Your smile is the best.” Sunggyu said.

Woohyun did not know how to respond to that, so he continued smiling shyly. “Let’s go. The exam’s going to start.” He said.

“Yes, but before that, here” Sunggyu bent down and placed a kiss on Woohyun’s forehead. “All the best.” He smiled again.

Woohyun felt as if all his worries were being wiped away. The simple gesture from Sunggyu made his heart go crazy, but not too much. He would have gone full crazy had Sunggyu kissed him for real. But he wanted that too. “Hyung if I get selected as the head guard today, can you give me a kiss as a gift?” It felt really embarrassing saying that, but it would motivate him a lot if Sunggyu accepted his idea.

Sunggyu however did not seem too keen on that.

It made Woohyun gloomy again and he regretted asking that. He should have known better than to ask for something like that after the fiasco that had occurred yesterday.

“I will give you something better. How about that?” Sunggyu suggested, while playing with the locket of his necklace.

Woohyun noticed the small red kite shaped locket and exclaimed, “Hey that’s your lucky locket! It’s cheating! You would be able to defeat me if you use that.” Whether the locket was lucky or not Woohyun did not know in reality, but the locket was what had made the two of them friends in the first place.

While Woohyun’s family had been fleeing to protection from the zombies when the apocalypse had occurred twenty years ago, Woohyun had almost been a part of the undead at that time. Woohyun did not remember the incident really well since he had been six then, but what he remembered was that a man had saved him from getting bit by a zombie, and the man was none other than Sunggyu’s father. Woohyun had remembered that locket from that day and then one day Sunggyu had come to school wearing that locket, and even though Woohyun had been wanting to talk to Sunggyu since a long time then since the older had intrigued him, he did not have a reason to do that. The locket had given him a reason. And when he had learnt that Sunggyu’s father had been the one to save him years ago, he immediately became friends with Sunggyu. He had met Sunggyu’s father after that, and they would talk a lot, since Woohyun knew how to win people, but unfortunately Sunggyu’s father had passed away a year after that.

Sunggyu had become gloomier and lonelier after that and he would wear the locket on him all the time.

Recently, Woohyun had not seen that locket on Sunggyu and seeing it now reminded him of certain memories. Though some of them were not good, yet it made him realize that they have been friends for a while now, and their relationship wasn’t fickle enough to break because Sunggyu was acting different suddenly. Also Sunggyu’s father was the main reason why Woohyun wanted to be the head guard so badly. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of the one who had saved his life, and work for the betterment of the village his saviour had worked so hard to build. Sunggyu’s father was one of the founding fathers of the village after all.

“My present better be good. I will be waiting for it.” Woohyun said when Sunggyu spaced out, playing with the locket.

“Uh? Yeah.” Sunggyu replied, giving him a smile.

“And I hope you do well too Sunggyu. Come on let’s go now.” Woohyun said, moving out of the alleyway they were in.

And Sunggyu followed him.

 

The first two examinations were written examinations testing aptitude and theory relating to protection against zombies and defence against humans. The aptitude exam weeded out a few people and the theory exam was the easiest, because almost every villager knew the stuff since it was compulsorily taught. Hence out of the two hundred odd examinees, one fifty people qualified for the physical rounds.

Then there was a test of endurance and basic weapon usage. There were races, and weight lifting. The top seventy scorers from the total scores for all the physical rounds were chosen to go to the next round.

Then there was the wrestling round and Sunggyu felt like he would lose since his first opponent was a bulky man who looked like actual wrestlers from books. Sunggyu lost to him of course, but he won against the other contenders, so he somehow qualified to the top twenty five people chosen to go to the final round.

The final round was- to go through a maze individually, and those who managed to make it till the end within five minutes would be selected as the guards. The one who would get through the maze the fastest would be selected as the head guard.

The new rules this year made Sunggyu satisfied as it meant he wouldn’t have to go against Woohyun one-on-one in the final round, or any of his friends for that matter.

The examinees were all made to sit in a room isolated from the audience.

Sunggyu was the last candidate to enter the maze, and though he did not know how his friends had fared, he hoped they had all made it, since the other six so desperately wanted to be part of the guard team. He had no doubt in their skills, but sometimes luck was not on your side.

And it seemed like luck was not on his side here, as the first obstacle was to swim through a pit full of water. And not one person in the village here knew that Sunggyu did not know how to swim. They had a lake in the center of the village where people would go to learn how to swim, and Sunggyu never went there because he was afraid of going into the water. It was like the one thing Sunggyu was bad at, and that same thing was his obstacle in becoming a guard. He looked around for an alternative and noticed that the walls surrounding the pit had some indentations in them. If Sunggyu managed to walk using them as support, he might be able to make it.

So he did that. It took a lot of time, since it was risky and he could fall into the water and once he would start drowning, he would be immediately disqualified, so he had to try his best to stay on the walls. After he managed to do that successfully, the rest of the obstacles were easy to cross, and as he ran to the finish line, he hoped he had made it in time.

He had, apparently, because suddenly he was tackled into a bear hug by Dongwoo who was smiling real wildly. What he was saying did not make sense to Sunggyu, because Dongwoo was happy and blabbering things. He even started crying, so Sunggyu comforted him till he stopped crying, and then went on to hug his other friends. Woohyun could not be seen anywhere, but his friends assured him that Woohyun was chosen as the guard too. All of them had been selected, and Sunggyu was indeed happy.

When he was done meeting Sungjong’s parents, Woohyun’s parents, and families of his other friends and some neighbours, Sunggyu went to meet the guards from earlier teams. Most of them congratulated him (they knew him because of his father), but they were all studying him with curiosity.

Kyuhyun, one of the older guards, walked up to him with Heechul in tow. “Are you sure about what you want to do?” Kyuhyun asked.

Heechul interrupted before Sunggyu could answer. “I have asked him the same question twenty times before, and he gave me the same answer. What do you think, if you ask, it will make him change his answer?”

Kyuhyun glared at him, so Heechul shut up.

Sunggyu muttered a ‘yes’.

“I hope you don’t regret it.” Kyuhyun sighed in resignation. “I may not know you well enough, but I know you are valued here. So if you still want to quit, we would be ready to accept your choice.”

“I have already made my decision.” Sunggyu assured him.

“Okay. Then we will meet you there at midnight. Take care.” Heechul said and the two walked away.

Sunggyu walked down to the stands where people waited with bated breaths for the announcement of the guard team selections and to know who was selected as the head guard.

Woohyun was there with his family now, and Sunggyu considered whether he should go there, but Boohyun was there too, and he would probably lecture Sunggyu again, so Sunggyu stayed back with Hoya.

The announcement stated that there were eleven guards selected this year- Lee Howon, Kim Myungsoo, Lee Sungyeol, Lee Mijoo, Jang Dongwoo, Kim Sunggyu, Lee Sungjong, Nam Woohyun, Kim Kibum, Yoo Jiae and Seo Jisoo.

It looked like a sausage fest, though it made quite a contrast to last year’s guard team where all the selected guards were females.

And then they announced the head guard’s name. Sunggyu knew it wasn’t him, he had barely managed to get through the maze in time. Though getting selected as the head guard would have been more beneficial for him, it did not mean that all hope was lost, since he had some other means to get his work done now, so he hoped it was- “And it is Nam Woohyun!”

Cheers erupted among the audience. Woohyun was a favourite choice anyway. People liked him. Woohyun had that charm. He would make a good head guard, Sunggyu thought. He noticed Woohyun smiling at him from the stage where he was called up, and Sunggyu managed to smile back at him.

As it was getting closer to midnight, he felt gloomier, but he was indeed happy for Woohyun, so he wasn’t faking the smile.

All of the guards were called up on the stage later. And they got introduced to one another.

When the festivities were over, the seven of them met at Dongwoo’s house. All the villagers had returned to their houses, and there was silence in the atmosphere once again.

They talked for a while, and parted ways one by one. When everyone except Dongwoo had left, Woohyun stood up to leave too and pulled Sunggyu along with him.

“Oh. I am staying at Dongwoo’s house today.” Sunggyu said.

“But hyung, you were supposed to give something to me.” Woohyun tried to make him remember.

And Sunggyu remembered it, but he was thinking of doing it later. “I’ll be there at your place at eight okay?”

Woohyun accepted that with a sad smile and left.

 

It was five minutes to eight and Woohyun was waiting for Sunggyu to come. He was done packing his stuff. The guards resided in between the tenth wall (the innermost wall) and the ninth wall. The new guards were going to be shifted to new houses tomorrow since they were guards now. Woohyun wondered if Sunggyu was done with his packing. Woohyun had already helped Myungsoo and Sungyeol with theirs but he did not have the time to check on others.

There was a knock on the door and Woohyun looked through the hole on the door. It was Sunggyu, so he opened it.

He knew he must be looking like a joker due to the huge smile on his face, but he couldn’t help it. Being a head guard had been one of his dreams since long, and now that he achieved it, he was really happy. For some reason, Sunggyu had been aiming to be a head guard too since the past year. Woohyun did not have any problem with that, since it did not create rivalry between them, so he assumed Sunggyu would be happy for him too.

But Sunggyu still looked as sad as he did yesterday, and Woohyun wanted to cry.

Sunggyu must have noticed his change of mood because he tried to smile as he entered the house.

Deciding to spare him a lecture on this happy day, Woohyun brought him to his bed and sat next to him. “My present?” He asked, doing bunny aegyo.

Sunggyu smiled at that, scoffing too, and Woohyun felt accomplished. “I am happy for you Woohyun.” Sunggyu said, genuinely smiling this time.

Woohyun was anxious, wondering what present Sunggyu had for him that would be better than a kiss.

The older was leaning closer to him, and Woohyun wondered if he was being duped and if he was going to receive a kiss after all (not that he would mind it), but when Sunggyu was real close, he stopped and Woohyun saw Sunggyu removing his necklace and placing it around Woohyun’s neck.

“What…” He said in disbelief.

“This is your present, Woohyun. I hope this is not too less. It’s an important thing for me, so don’t lose it.” Sunggyu said.

“Are you serious?” Woohyun asked incredulously. When Sunggyu nodded, Woohyun started taking off the necklace, so Sunggyu stopped him.

“What are you doing?”

“I can’t accept this.”

“Why not?”

“Are you really asking me this? This is of too much importance to you. I don’t deserve this.”

“And you are of too much importance to me, Woohyun. I am giving this to you not just like that. I want this to serve you as a reminder of your promise to me.”

The reminder of the promise made Woohyun frown, but he couldn’t reject the present now when he saw the sincerity with which Sunggyu was giving it to him. If only Sunggyu would have proposed to him with it, Woohyun would have been the happiest human being on earth. But things did not work as he wished, so Woohyun learnt to be happy with what he had. “Okay.” He said.

“I’ll take my leave now then.” Sunggyu stood up to leave.

“No wait.” Woohyun did not want Sunggyu to leave so quickly. He wanted to spend some more time with him since today was a day of happiness and Sunggyu made him happy (though lately he has been driving Woohyun crazy too). He had made him happy today too. He looked at the locket dangling from his neck.

Sunggyu was looking at him, waiting for him to speak.

“Please stay for a while.” Woohyun requested.

“Uh… I am sorry. I can’t right now. I have to pack my bags.”

“I’ll help you. Will that be okay?” Woohyun suggested. He did not mind whichever way, he just wanted to be with Sunggyu. Woohyun’s brother was in this part of the village due to some work and was staying in one of the vacant houses nearby, but Woohyun had already spent some hours with him and now he wanted to be with his friend.

However, Sunggyu did not seem too keen on the idea. “I think I’ll be done faster alone. There’s a lot of work to be done on the house too.” He said.

Woohyun found a lot of faults with the reply and he could have argued, but maybe Sunggyu just did not want to be with him at the moment. So he swallowed the sob that was trying to break out of him and nodded.

“I’ll leave. Sleep well. You have to get up early tomorrow for the shifting.” Sunggyu said. He was looking at Woohyun’s face, particularly lips, for some reason.

So before he could leave, Woohyun pulled him back and kissed him on the mouth. “Sorry, but I needed that.” He said, as he parted.

Sunggyu looked surprised, but he leaned in and gave Woohyun a proper kiss. They did not deepen it, just having the feeling of the other’s lips on theirs made them satisfied. He pulled Woohyun into a hug then.

And Woohyun was now happier. He snuggled into Sunggyu’s warmth and breathed his scent in.

“Thank you Woohyun.” Sunggyu said, pulling back.

That confused Woohyun, but he attributed it for him initiating the kiss. Woohyun smiled at him. “Thank you for this.” He showed the locket.

“Even though I said not to lose the locket, I don’t want you to risk your life for it, you get it?” Sunggyu said.

“Okay sir!” Woohyun saluted to him, and Sunggyu left him alone after bidding him goodbye while laughing.

 

Woohyun was deep in slumber when rapid knocks on his front door woke him up. The knocks were continuous and did not stop, so before checking the time, Woohyun shouted out, “Who is it?”

“Hyung it’s me Myungsoo! Open the door quick!” Myungsoo sounded distressed.

Woohyun took a cane in his hand for self-defence. He believed in Myungsoo, but he looked through the small window in the back first and it was still deep of the night. The big clock on the top of the village hall building, which was visible to all villagers from their houses, showed the time as around three a.m., so Woohyun opened the door warily.

And Myungsoo was alone, but he was literally panicking. Woohyun dropped the cane in his hand, and pulled Myungsoo inside. He went to light up more flames in the fireplace, so he could see Myungsoo better, but Myungsoo pulled him away.

“We don’t have time for all that hyung. Sunggyu hyung is gone!”

“What do you mean?” Woohyun turned towards him real fast.

“He left us. He’s gone hyung.”

“What are you saying? He was fine. He met me some hours ago.” The way Myungsoo was panicking though made Woohyun realize he wasn’t joking.

“He left the village hyung. I found a letter in my study from him. And I went to his place to check. He isn’t there.”

“Show me the letter.”

“I… I can’t show it to you. But it says that he would have left by the time I read this letter. And that he has some important mission to do. It doesn’t mention whether he will return. And he told me to take care of myself and everyone else too.”

Myungsoo was teary, so Woohyun brought him into his embrace. He wondered why Myungsoo was crying, surely they could bring Sunggyu back somehow, couldn’t they? He thought of all the possible actions he could take. Now that he was a head guard, Woohyun had been introduced to the other head guards and guards in the evening. He could ask them for details, since no villager could step out of the walls without permission from the guards, even if it was one of the guards themselves.

Could Sunggyu have really left them like that? The thought made Woohyun angry, but he knew that it was the truth. All the events leading up till today, the way Sunggyu had been behaving since the past days, all could be explained by this. But why had Sunggyu left them? Woohyun was feeling disoriented since he had just woken up from his sleep and all of this did not make sense, but it made sense at the same time.

Whatever it was, Sunggyu would be a fool if he thought Woohyun wouldn’t follow him. Woohyun was raging due to the fact that Sunggyu had hidden the fact that he was leaving, from Woohyun and the others, and that he did not trust them enough to let his concerns out to them. So Woohyun was going to find him and make him realize his mistakes.

“Let’s go after him.” Woohyun said, and Myungsoo pulled away from him and nodded, his eyes red from the crying.

‘What should we do? Should we go to the wall?”

“Go call the others and tell them about this. I’ll check if there’s any letter here at my place, and head to the wall. You bring the guys there, okay?”

Myungsoo agreed and left.

Woohyun began flipping things over in his house, trying to find places where Sunggyu could have left a letter for him. Most of his stuff was packed in his bag, so if the letter was in some furniture, it would be easy to find. But had Sunggyu even left a letter for him in the first place? The older had given him the locket, and that was already a big thing. Wait, the locket-

He opened the locket, and there it was- a piece of paper folded inside it.

_Woohyun-ah,_

_This is Sunggyu. I am sorry. There is this really important stuff hyung has to do, so hyung will be leaving the village. That’s all I can say. I will be fine. Please take care of yourself and try to be happy as always. I love your smile the best. I am a coward for leaving you like this, but I don’t think I will be able to say goodbye in person._

_It has been nice spending time with you. I couldn’t have asked for a better person who would understand and care for me like you did. And I care for you too. So please look after yourself, and Dongwoo, Hoya, Sungyeol, Myungsoo and Sungjong- take care of them too._

_I hope you find someone who would cherish you for the all amazing qualities you have, someone who will appreciate your existence. If it gets difficult, it will be alright if you want to forget me. My only wish is that you remain happy._

_Thank you. And sorry. Please forgive me._

_KSG_

Woohyun could feel the wetness on his cheeks and he could understand now why Myungsoo was crying. This was a real goodbye.

Fuck. He read the letter once again and threw it into the fireplace. This sorry excuse for a letter, he did not want, he wanted Sunggyu back.

 

It was now the tenth day that they were outside the walls of the village in the open. Four of his friends had already returned, and it was just the two of them now, Woohyun and Sungyeol, who were still trying to look for Sunggyu.

There were high chances that wherever Sunggyu was headed, the older might have reached that place already, or if not, he might be far far away. But Woohyun did not want to give up on the lookout.

Sungyeol was staying only because they did not want to leave Woohyun alone out in the midst of zombies. It was always better to have company outside, even though Woohyun was capable enough of defending himself.

Woohyun smashed the head of a zombie which sneaked up behind Sungyeol, with his bat. It smelled really bad, and he almost spilled out his own guts. Though he was used to seeing disfigured and hideous bodies and organs, and also listening to the terror inducing moans, he still wasn’t used to the horrible smell. It had been a long time since he had been face to face with zombies, the last time being some weeks ago when their trainer had organized the trip to the outside world so that they could practice self-defence.

Woohyun had faced zombies for real around ten times before, out of which eight times had been during the past year alone, as a part of his training. The ten times were however excluding the time when the apocalypse had occurred twenty years ago. He did not remember many details from during that time since he was a kid then, but the difference between the zombies then and now was that, they had become dirtier and raggedy due to years of exposure to the natural elements and accidental self-harm, this of course did not include the recently turned zombies though. So the recently turned zombies were the ones which were the most dangerous since their walk could be compared to a slow run. The ancient zombies were comparatively easier to strike down, however they had guts hanging down their body or various horrendously twisted and maimed body parts, so Woohyun almost puked while encountering some of those.

Sungyeol was fighting off two of the undead, who were probably an old man and woman before, as Woohyun cleaned his knife in a nearby stream. When they were done, they decided to rest for the evening in a living structure nearby. The house was small, but the doors were sturdy enough, so they decided it was good enough for resting. Before sunset, they entered the house, and shut all doors and windows, after clearing the surrounding area off stragglers.

Woohyun had been finding it difficult to sleep since the past few days. The only reason he had been able to catch even a little bit of sleep was because he had his friends around. Now that it was just the two of them, he decided to sleep beside Sungyeol.

The younger took out a cloth from his backpack and started cleaning the floor. The house was bare of everything. It had no furniture inside, everything already looted probably. Some of it could possibly have been taken to their village. So they had to sleep on the floor.

They had already checked the house twice for zombies, and for safety measures, closed the doors of all the rooms in the house.

As Sungyeol lied down, keeping his backpack close to him, Woohyun lied down beside him, letting him be spooned by the younger. He buried his face into Sungyeol’s chest, and let the younger pat his back to aid him to sleep.

“We should return hyung.” Sungyeol said out in the darkness after some seconds of silence.

“I will drop you home tomorrow and return back here.”

“It’s not about me wanting to return though, you need a rest too. That is why everyone returned. Do you think Dongwoo hyung would give up so soon? Hyung’s really angry at Sunggyu hyung. But we can’t just put ourselves at risk like this. There’s the factor of luck too while dealing with zombies, you know that. And getting exhausted wouldn’t help us do anything but instead take us away from the goal.”

“I don’t care. I am not returning home without Sunggyu.” Woohyun said stubbornly.

“And what if he doesn’t want to come?”

The question struck Woohyun like lightning. He was glad Sungyeol couldn’t see his face in the darkness, or the younger would have become worried.

“You can’t force him to come back. He doesn’t want our help, which is why he left.” Sungyeol said.

“I don’t know. I want him back. You can probably go on with your life without him, but I can’t do that.” Woohyun’s voice was breaking. “I need him.” He was crying now.

That Sungyeol had his arms over him and was hugging him was a good thing, because it helped him calm down a little.

“I love him Sungyeol.” Woohyun admitted.

There was a gasp from Sungyeol next to him. “Hyung”

“Wasn’t it obvious?” Woohyun asked, bitterly. “I had even told you about my decision to propose to him right? You had helped me choose the ring too.”

“I know that, but… I thought you weren’t that deep in for him. Like you know, I thought it was simply attraction, and you wanted to see how it worked out between the two of you?”

“Why would I want to propose to him then Yeol?” Woohyun asked frustrated.

“Ah that’s right….” Sungyeol said. “Maybe… you should try to forget him?”

“You are an asshole Sungyeol.” Woohyun laughed bitterly.

“I am sorry.” Sungyeol said.

“Thank you. Now sleep.” Woohyun returned to burying himself in Sungyeol’s chest, ending the discussion.

 

Things were not looking well for them. A horde of zombies surrounded them from all sides. It would be pretty much impossible to get out from there.

And to add to that, they were in an open area with no trees in between the zombies and them, that they could climb to safety.

Thankfully, the numbers of the undead were still low, so Woohyun was trying to strike down as many of the zombies as possible, so they could escape. There were splashes of the viral blood over his clothes from few of the ones he had stricken, but thankfully he was covered pretty well and so was Sungyeol, so hopefully it wouldn’t affect them and they only had to get rid of the dirty clothes after getting to safety.

As time passed, the numbers of the opponents were increasing though, and Woohyun was not too sure whether they would survive today.

There was a three storey structure not far away from where they were, so if they could get to that, maybe they could escape to safety.

He explained to Sungyeol of his plan.

Sungyeol protested at first, because Woohyun was asking Sungyeol to run to the structure while Woohyun kept the zombies distracted. And that also meant Woohyun might not be able to make it alive. So Sungyeol refused to go through with it.

Woohyun assured Sungyeol he had a plan. He had none actually, but Sungyeol would not go otherwise, and Woohyun would rather die himself than have Sungyeol die due to Woohyun being stubborn and wanting to stay outside the walls.

Sungyeol seemed sceptical still, but he agreed, and soon it was just Woohyun who was fighting the horde of zombies.

Sungyeol might feel betrayed, Woohyun thought, but it was necessary. He fought and fought as long as he could, and when he felt like he couldn’t do it anymore, something saved him.

There was a loud noise from far away, and half of the zombies surrounding Woohyun turned to that direction. Sungyeol being there would have helped him in this situation, as the two could have finished off the remaining zombies together, but that was solved too, as some person stepped into the fight, striking down the undead one after the other.

Before Woohyun could understand what was happening, he was being dragged to the structure which Woohyun had asked Sungyeol to escape to. He realized it was Sunggyu who was dragging him away. Confronting him was what he wanted to do, but now wasn’t the right time.

Sunggyu brought him inside the structure, closing the doors behind him, and then dragged Woohyun up to the second floor. Once they were there, Sunggyu stood next to a window, and pushed Woohyun away from him.

“If you come close by even one step, I am jumping from here.” Sunggyu indicated to the window.

Woohyun could hear the moans of the undead from below, Sunggyu would be devoured if he jumped.

“So stay there.” Sunggyu said.

Woohyun wouldn’t be able to move anyway. Tears were falling from his eyes. It had been ten days since he had last seen Sunggyu, and though Sunggyu looked a bit different- worn out, and hair cut shorter, Woohyun was glad to hear his voice after so long. “Sunggyu” He mumbled. He wanted to go to him and hug him, slap him, kick him, and probably fuck him senseless for messing with them like that, but as soon as he made a movement, Sunggyu made a move to jump, so Woohyun stayed still.

“Sungyeol’s on the floor above. I talked to him already. You should go to him. There’s a huge tree whose branches fall on the terrace here, it would help you escape from this place.”

“I’ll go if you are coming.” Woohyun said, wiping his tears.

“I won’t. You’ll have to go by yourself.” Sunggyu replied.

The older had a poker face, which he was very good at maintaining Woohyun knew, so Woohyun wanted to go closer to him, so he could mess with him, like Sunggyu had messed with Woohyun. But he did not need physical closeness to mess with Sunggyu, after all. “Why did you leave?” Woohyun asked.

“Because I wanted to.”

“You wanted to leave us behind? You wanted to leave me?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Am I boring after all?” A laugh came out of him as he said that, and Woohyun wanted to hit himself for being so pathetic.

“It’s not about that.” Sunggyu answered.

“Then what? You wanted me to top you again? Is that all? I am ready to do that. BDSM and all, you wanted to try those too right? I am ready.”

“What the fuck.” Sunggyu’s face turned pink and Woohyun felt like he had the upper hand for once. However, he did not remain in the delusion for long, because Sunggyu continued. “I am not coming back whatever you say.”

“Okay, then I am not going back too.” Woohyun stood stiff in his place. “Or maybe I will go back after all.” He started walking back down, aiming to open the door and walk to the zombies.

“Wait! I am seriously going to jump if you move from your place.” Sunggyu warned.

Woohyun tried to pretend it did not affect him, but then he noticed that Sunggyu was standing on the ledge of the window, so he came back to his original spot. “I am not moving, stop, please!”

Sunggyu turned in his direction, and after some time, jumped back to the room from the ledge. “Go upstairs now.” He said.

“I won’t go without you.”

“You don’t have time. The main door on the floor below is not strong enough, and would fall down soon. You need to go up quickly, or even I’ll die.”

“What makes you think I care for your life so much?”

“I don’t have time to argue with you Woohyun. Go upstairs now. I have asked Sungyeol to wait for you there and the door downstairs might break anytime. Go now, or I am jumping.”

Woohyun laughed. “Okay jump then, and I’ll go after you. Let’s both die. It’s better than me returning back alone.” Woohyun said.

“Are you sure?” Sunggyu asked.

Woohyun did not answer.

“If that is what you want, I will jump now.” Sunggyu warned.

Woohyun knew Sunggyu was not one to give up his life in vain like that, considering how self-centred Sunggyu was, but he was not so sure. Would Sunggyu be ready to throw his life away, if not doing that meant that Woohyun wouldn’t leave him alone? It really confused Woohyun. He had no option now but to leave Sunggyu alone, but… that meant that it would be their final separation, and Woohyun couldn’t bear to accept that.

“Should I?” Sunggyu asked once again.

“No. Why did you leave?” Woohyun asked again.

“Because I wanted to. Seriously, we don’t have time and you need to move. Fast.”

“Do you not trust us? Do you not trust me to share your worries? Do you even know how hurt Dongwoo hyung is, how hurt all of us are? Do you want us to die?”

There it was, the expression of pain on Sunggyu’s features, but it went away quickly too. “I don’t want you to die. I don’t want anyone to die. So please go.”

“You do not trust me? Why did you give this to me then?” Woohyun showed the locket he had hanging from his neck to Sunggyu. “Why do I need this when you are not with me?”

“So that you remember your promise.”

There was the sound of something cracking from the floor below and Woohyun realized the door had given way and the zombies must have entered the house. They would soon be up. “Come on Sunggyu, come with me.” Woohyun urged Sunggyu to move, but Sunggyu was still being stubborn.

“I won’t move unless you go.” Sunggyu said.

The door to their floor was shut separating it from the stairs outside, but it was comparatively weaker, and would soon succumb to the pressure from the zombies. They were already pushing against it. It was just random pushing, since the undead did not possess brains to know that humans were exactly behind the doors, but still the door would give way soon, and once sighted, it would be difficult for them to escape, Woohyun thought.

“Go Woohyun.” Sunggyu scolded him.

“I love you Sunggyu.”

Woohyun had never expected that when he would say the words out loud one day, Sunggyu’s response would be in the form of crying. But there were tears slipping through Sunggyu’s eyes now, and as much as Woohyun wanted to go to him, Sunggyu had forbidden him from moving. Woohyun’s heart pained with the thought of leaving Sunggyu, he hated Sunggyu for doing this to him, for doing this to them, but not enough to want the older to die now. And if he did not want that, he had to move soon. The door was already cracking at the hinges, and Sungyeol was poking his head through the top of the stairs of the floor above them, indicating Woohyun to come up.

“If you love me, let me live my life as I want to.” Sunggyu said, finally, eyes still wet with unshed tears and cheeks wet with the tears that had already left his eyes.

Woohyun wondered if he could just run to Sunggyu, hoping he was fast enough to prevent Sunggyu from jumping; if he could drag Sunggyu with him, and beg him to come back. But Sunggyu’s stubbornness was something which Woohyun knew well. The older wasn’t going to give up ever. He decided to try one last time. “If you do not want me to hate you forever, come back with me now. Or the next time I see you, I will kill you.” Woohyun warned him. He wasn’t joking. He had reached his limit, and Sunggyu had turned his once perfect life upside down due to reasons he wasn’t willing to disclose. Sunggyu deserved being hated.

“Alright. Just leave.” Sunggyu said.

And that was all what Woohyun required to decide to give up finally. “I hope we never cross paths again.” Woohyun said, spitting out at him, and turning his back to Sunggyu for the last time. He ran up through the stairs, not bothering to look back.

The door should have been still intact; there was no sound of it breaking yet.

He joined Sungyeol, and they ran to the open terrace, and to the tree branch which Sunggyu had talked about, climbing onto it, and jumping down in a place where the population of the undead was relatively sparse.

Woohyun did not bother to look back to check if Sunggyu had escaped from where they had been earlier. He noticed Sungyeol occasionally looking back as they fought their way across to a place of safety.

Once Sungyeol stopped looking back, and had an expression of relief over his features, Woohyun realized Sunggyu had probably managed to escape. Relief washed over him, but at the same time, his heart burned with anger and sorrow. How was he supposed to go on with life?

 

There was an atmosphere of gloom on their table. It was lunch time and the three of them were eating their food peacefully as there was chatter coming from the guards in the tables around them.

Sungjong had returned from visiting his parents yesterday. They had been solemn too. And there was not a single place where Sungjong could be happy. His family was sad, and so were his friends. And to add to that, his own emotions were in a state of turmoil.

It was now almost a month since Sunggyu had left the village. Sungjong’s first thought had been that the whole thing was a joke. But he had found a letter addressed to him inside a gift Sunggyu had given to him years ago. How Sunggyu had managed to sneak the letter into the toy, Sungjong did not know. But there was no doubt that the letter was from Sunggyu, since Sungjong knew Sunggyu’s handwriting well.

The letter did not say much except that Sunggyu was sorry for breaking his promise to Sungjong. The two had promised years ago that they would always stay by each other and if not that, they would stay in touch. If Sunggyu could not even stay in touch, that meant that the older was leaving them for good.

And that had been a shocker. It fit well with Sunggyu’s actions earlier. Sungjong’s mother and father had not been shocked by Sunggyu leaving, even though they were sad, because according to them, the way Sunggyu had talked to them on the day before the exams, how he had come to visit them so abruptly, had indicated to them that something was wrong. They were glad that Sunggyu had not disappeared just like that, though they were still worried for him.

Sungjong hated Sunggyu on their behalf, because his parents seemed to have forgiven the older. Sungjong couldn’t do that though. He was angry. Sunggyu would tease him, pick on him, make him do stuff, but the older believed in Sungjong a lot. Sunggyu knew Sungjong’s strengths and weaknesses, but the feeling Sungjong used to get from him was that Sunggyu considered him an equal, that he respected Sungjong, and needed Sungjong as a friend as much Sungjong needed the older. Sunggyu treated him as a dongsaeng, but he was also like a same age friend despite not being the same age.

But apparently things weren’t like that. Sungjong felt betrayed that Sunggyu did not even disclose the reason for suddenly leaving, but he felt more betrayed that Sunggyu had left Woohyun like that.

The ring in his cupboard Woohyun had handed him for safekeeping would probably stay unused forever now. Woohyun loved Sunggyu. That was a fact. Probably not everyone knew about it, but Sungjong did, and that Sunggyu would hurt Woohyun like that did not sit well with him.

Woohyun had still not returned back to the village. He was roaming around outside. Their head guard not being present in the village, the newly formed sixteenth guard group did not have anything to do. Mijoo, Jisoo, Jiae and Kibum- their fellow team members had shifted to other guard groups since the sixteenth guard group did not function at all. The others stayed of course- Sungyeol, Myungsoo, Dongwoo, Hoya and Sungjong.

Since the five did not have any work to do, they would follow Woohyun in groups of two and observe him from a safe distance just so that he was not alone.

Woohyun knew of their presence, but neither would they approach him nor did he approach them.

Woohyun would spend his time frying zombies, training or just aimlessly wandering.

And they would just watch.

Sungjong had once tried to approach Woohyun, but the older had walked away, and now it was them simply waiting for their friend to return to them. They had already lost one friend, they couldn’t lose another.

At times, Sungjong would want to go find Sunggyu and bring him back anyhow, but Sungyeol had explained to them that Sunggyu was really not going to listen to whatever they say, and Sungjong knew how stubborn Sunggyu was, so… he was hoping that maybe Sunggyu would return to them one day when he would miss them, if he would miss them.

That was probably a false sense of hope he was deluding himself into, but if Sunggyu really thought of them as his friends at any point of his life, he would certainly miss them and want to return to them, wouldn’t he? So he hoped Sunggyu would manage to stay alive in the outside world and return to them one day, so Sungjong could kill him with his own hands. He probably wouldn’t do that, he wasn’t sure how he would react to be honest.

 

 

 


	4. 03. understand

 

 

 

The night had wrapped its blanket of darkness over the village on this night too, and Woohyun was walking across the inner side of the first wall, the last wall among the walls which separated their village from the outside world. The walls were really high, so it was not like he could check on how the situation was on the other side of the wall.

Which is why, he climbed up the stairs of the watch house he came across first, lantern in one hand lighting up the path.

The silence was eerie, but Woohyun was already used to walking alone in the dangers of the night. A bat was resting on the wall space next to the stairs and its eyes spooked him a bit, but the night was otherwise uneventful.

Once, he reached the top of the staircase, he entered the watch house using his set of keys. There was a soldier inside, who was supposed to be watching for any suspicious activities outside. And thankfully the soldier _was_ doing his work, so Woohyun did not have to spend his time lecturing people regarding their duties, like he had lectured one of the soldiers yesterday.

When the soldier noticed him, Woohyun indicated him to leave the watch house to him for some time, and the soldier agreed and left the tower.

The binoculars wouldn’t be able to give him proper view of the situation outside in the night time, so Woohyun tried to listen for any sounds which required attention. Apart from the sounds of some animals and birds, there was nothing he heard which seemed out of place. Not like he could hear things from that high in the ground. Yet there did not seem to be anything that warranted attention, at least from what he could discern.

He left the place after an hour and cycled inward to the second wall.

It wasn’t his duty to do such stuff, but there were times when Woohyun couldn’t sleep at all, and he thought maybe checking up on the village’s defence mechanisms in the night time was a worthy thing to do.

There had been an attack in the night by some looters some months ago which they had managed to stop quickly, but a similar attack could catch them by surprise again. It was never a bad thing to take extra precautions.

The distances between the walls were a lot since the walls were built after a significant portion of territory was captured. They were going to build a new wall soon, since they had cleared some more territory from zombies.

And then there were the guard exams coming up this year. Woohyun was asked to help in drafting the exam format this year, but he had declined since the exams still held bad memories for him. Not the exams really, but more the events that happened after them.

It had taken him two months to return to the village, one month after that to take up his head guard duties officially, and one more month to start talking to Boohyun, since apparently the only person Sunggyu had informed of his departure before leaving was Boohyun, so that he could look after Woohyun. Woohyun had been really mad at his brother for not sharing that piece of information with him, but he had also missed his brother a lot, and he couldn’t see him sad anymore, so he had started talking to him again.

It had been hard returning to normalcy, because the normalcy did not involve Sunggyu.

It was not like Woohyun’s life revolved around Sunggyu. Woohyun had his own likes, his own hobbies, his own set of friends who were not Sunggyu’s friends. Of course his closest friends were friends of Sunggyu too. They were a tight knit group. But it was not like Woohyun needed Sunggyu to survive. He could very well survive on his own.

What the problem was, that, Woohyun loved Sunggyu. And Sunggyu had depended on him a lot in the past years, as much as Woohyun depended on the older. Woohyun would be constantly gnawed by whether Sunggyu was alive, whether he was eating, whether he was safe.

The worries would consume Woohyun too much. And other times, he would dedicate his existence to hating Sunggyu, to hating him for making Woohyun feel like a fool.

Woohyun had been on top of the world when Sunggyu had gifted him the locket. He had been so happy, he had even showed it off to Hoya and Dongwoo when they had met. He had felt elated.

And then Sunggyu had snatched his happiness away from him like that on that very night itself. What hurt him the most was that, he could forgive Sunggyu if he did not love him back, but Sunggyu did not trust him despite of the relationship between them, and the realization would haunt Woohyun suddenly and randomly and make him feel all kinds of stupid.

He hated Sunggyu so much, that sometimes he felt it would be better to seek Sunggyu and kill him once and for all. But Woohyun did not work like that. If Sunggyu wanted to live his life his way, he wouldn’t disturb him, but he hoped the older never returned, because Woohyun would lose his bearings if Sunggyu were to return with a partner suddenly years later, having a family of his own, living a happy life.

Woohyun also wondered what could have been the reason Sunggyu left for. There was nothing Sunggyu talked about to him which indicated he had stuff to do outside village. Had Sunggyu actually been tired of Woohyun and since he couldn’t reject Woohyun like that, he had to resort to doing this? That could be possible. But why would Sunggyu leave all his friends and his only home for that?

Not that Sunggyu had his family here. His father had passed away some years ago when they had been on a war with one of the neighbouring villages. Sunggyu’s mother had never been in the village at all. Woohyun did not know much about her, but he had assumed she had probably died on or before the zombie apocalypse, since there was never talk regarding the person who birthed Sunggyu.

The closest thing Sunggyu had to a family in the past year were Sungjong’s parents, since they had been Sunggyu’s neighbours since childhood and Sunggyu used to baby-sit Sungjong when they were kids. Woohyun’s parents were pretty close to Sunggyu too, but that was mainly because Woohyun and Sunggyu had been close friends and Sunggyu used to come over to play over at Woohyun’s house when they were teenagers.

Apart from that, the only family Sunggyu had was his friends, the six of them. Sunggyu was close to the guard teams too, because of his father, but the closeness was more like of respect and admiration from the guards to the Kim family.

Hence, it was not like there was something of great value here to bind Sunggyu to the village. Woohyun realized he wasn’t of great value to the older and sped up his cycling. It had been quite a long time since he had last allowed Sunggyu to occupy his thoughts.

The fifth wall was nearing; it was probably going to take him half an hour more to cross all the walls and to get to his house. And he was going to be thinking of Sunggyu for half an hour more now.

And it wasn’t nice. All those thoughts made him feel worthless. He hated Sunggyu for doing this to him.

Sometime later, he finally reached his destination and entered the guards’ residential quarters. Before he could get into his house, there was a hold on his arm. Pushing himself away from whatever it was, and once he was at a distance, he looked at the figure that had tried to touch him.

It was Lee Mijoo, one of Dongwoo’s friends. She was supposed to be a part of his guard team, but since Woohyun had been an irresponsible person when he had been selected as the head, a few members of his guard team had shifted teams. Mijoo had been trying to talk to him since morning, and Woohyun had an idea why. Myungsoo had told him some time ago that the girl had a crush on Woohyun. Maybe she wanted to ask him out on a date.

Woohyun was actually impressed because everyone in the village knew to stay the fuck away from Woohyun since his love life was a mystery. Most people did not know Woohyun loved Sunggyu, but they knew that Woohyun had been devastated when Sunggyu had left, and that Woohyun was probably not interested in any relationships.

That Mijoo would try to contact him despite that, was impressive.

“What?” He asked. “You should be sleeping at this hour. It’s four in the night.”

“You are up too sunbae.” Mijoo said, moving closer to him.

“Sunbae? I am not your sunbae.” Woohyun laughed. It was a rare thing, him laughing nowadays, though some of Sungyeol’s antics did make him laugh. But according to what Dongwoo told him, Woohyun needed to laugh more. Which is why probably Mijoo was looking at him in wonder, as if she had seen Woohyun laugh for the first time. “We became guards in the same year.” He said.

“But you are older and you are a head guard too, and were a senior at school too.” Mijoo reasoned.

“Oh alright then. But what are you doing here at this hour?” Woohyun asked.

“And if I ask you the same thing?”

Woohyun was annoyed. This Mijoo girl had no right to ask him what he was doing. Granted Woohyun had no right to ask Mijoo what she was doing too, but he was not the one standing in front of Mijoo’s house at this ungodly hour.

He was about to walk into his house after excusing himself, when Mijoo spoke up, “I am sorry but I wanted to tell you something.”

Woohyun turned to her, but then suddenly there was a loud whistle in the air. The particular whistle was a code for when civilians were supposed to get to safety.

Woohyun wondered if there was an emergency, and whether he should go, but he heard the sound of some barks coming from the distance, so he figured maybe some of the wild dogs had come out of the woods and started attacking people.

The best course of action was to stay inside until the soldiers at night duty dealt with it.

So he brought Mijoo inside with him, shutting the door behind.

She looked nervous for some reason, and Woohyun remembered that she liked him.

His eyes focused on her lips which she was wetting. Woohyun had noticed her a lot because she stood out, what with her confidence and cheerfulness. He could probably give her a chance. And she was well endowed too. His gaze traced her figure, oh the curves were pretty amazing. His memories retraced back to what Sunggyu had once said when they were teenagers, ‘All men are wolves except Woohyun.’

Well, Sunggyu did not exist for Woohyun anymore and now Woohyun was going to be a wolf too. Who would have known?

He stalked to the girl, and when he was right in front of her, he said, “I’ll get straight to the point. Do you like me?”

Mijoo looked surprised, but answered ‘yes’.

And Woohyun couldn’t see any disadvantage of hooking up with her if she was willing. It might help calm him his flames of hate for Sunggyu, if he had other things to distract his mind.

So he held her bottom lip with his thumb, “Should I?”

She nodded, closing her eyes, and Woohyun bridged the gap between them.

It felt nice to have someone touch him after so long. It was close to a year since he had last been intimate with someone, that someone being Sunggyu, so he had missed the feeling of being kissed.

Mijoo was a decent kisser. When Woohyun tried to probe into her mouth, she allowed him and they kissed each other like their life depended on it. She was too rough, but that was what Woohyun needed- something that could take his mind off from hating Sunggyu day and night.

He placed his hands on her waist closing the distance between their bodies, but she held his wrists, and brought his hands to place them on her chest.

Woohyun pulled back to look at her, and she had a blush on her cheeks, but she looked pretty and cute and was Woohyun’s type, and Woohyun wanted to try being with her.

It was a surprise she looked so submissive since Mijoo was the girl everyone thought of as confident and brave. Woohyun had even imagined her to be a dominant kind of person. But with how she was so shy now with him, Woohyun wondered if he made people like that.

He remembered how he had fucked Sunggyu real nicely two days before Sunggyu had fucked off from his life. The usually bossy Sunggyu had been so pliant under him, Woohyun wondered if because Sunggyu had already planned leaving then was why he had wanted to experience being the bottom again.

Sunggyu must have wanted to spend one last time doing everything he could with the person he had been fucking for two years. The realization came suddenly to Woohyun and he pulled away and went to sit on his bed.

Sunggyu was such a sore loser. Because he was leaving, he had come to Woohyun so he could satisfy himself for a few days. Woohyun felt so badly used, that it was not even funny. He wanted to burn everything in his reach. But then he remembered… how Sunggyu had eaten him up after that, on that night, and the memory made him blush.

“Woohyun… sshi”

He was brought out from his thoughts by Mijoo.

She seemed confused and intrigued.

Woohyun wondered if he should continue with her or just ask her to leave. But… he looked at the tent in his pants, which had formed due to scenes from the past in his mind, and that could use some help.

Of course, Woohyun wasn’t the kind of guy who would use someone like that, so he hoped he would be able to make it enjoyable for the girl too.

“Come here.” He gestured to her.

She looked hesitant at first, but then came forward.

Woohyun slid back a little and made her sit in between his legs. Bringing her into his embrace, he whispered into her ear, “I won’t be able to love you, this will be just a one night thing. Is that fine?” He asked.

It took a long time for her to answer. “If you can consider going on one date, it will be great.” She replied, finally.

Woohyun sighed and pulled away. “I don’t think I’ll be able to do that. Sorry.”

But she clung to him again. “Okay. I was just hoping. It’s fine if you don’t want to.” She placed her lips over his.

And Woohyun let himself be led by her. She must have done this before. Of course it probably wasn’t her first time, considering how forward she was, but then, she was like that most of the times.

Woohyun was lying down on the bed, and Mijoo had a hand placed on his crotch stroking him through the fabric of his pants. He groaned at the feeling of having someone else’s hand over his member after a long time, though it was still separated by the clothes.

He closed his eyes, and was not happy to see the image of Sunggyu in his mind. He was going to curse out loud, but it might offend the girl, so he tried to keep quiet.

As she started picking up pace, Woohyun was in half mind to ask her why she was pleasuring him like that and why they were both clothed and why was she the only one doing something. But then he imagined how wonderful it would be to have the long, beautiful fingers of a certain person on his member, and how said person would try to lap up all Woohyun would release, everything, until Woohyun was dry but still in desperate need to have the feeling of the particular person inside him.

He came to his climax soon with Sunggyu’s name on the tip of his tongue, almost out but not, and his pants dirtied. He opened his eyes slowly to see Mijoo looking at him with a smile.

“Why?” He said. “Come here. I’ll-”

There was a finger over his mouth. “You are beautiful sunbae.”

“Uh… thank you” Woohyun replied, when she removed her fingers.

“I don’t want to meddle in your affairs, but… you still have feelings for him right?” She said, an understanding smile on her face.

Woohyun very well knew who she was talking about, but he still asked her who she was talking about, so he could ask her to get out once she answered. Everyone knew not to mention ‘he who must not be named’ in front of Woohyun, if they wanted to live. It was an unspoken rule.

And she was smart apparently, because she avoided naming him, “I know you weren’t thinking about me. There were so many emotions visible on your face.”

Woohyun wanted to tell her to leave. He felt exposed.

But she continued. “I shouldn’t have seen you like this. Now I wish I had someone who loved me like that.” She muttered dreamily.

Woohyun wanted to kick her out, because first, he was dirty and wanted to clean up, second, he did not want to discuss about his non-existent love life with someone he had rarely interacted with, or anyone in general.

But then, “I met your guy yesterday.” Mijoo said.

That… was a real surprise. He would have asked to elaborate what ‘your guy’ meant, but they both knew, so he did not comment on that.

“I should have told you earlier. I came here for that. But then this happened.” She blushed. “I will wait for you in my house. It’s on block 24A. Can you come there or should I wait here outside?”

“I’ll come to your place. Take care while leaving.” He said and waited for her to leave, so he could become presentable enough for a talk.

 

Mijoo’s place was similar to his, slightly smaller since Woohyun was a head guard and he had a bigger house. But there wasn’t much difference except that there were varieties of clothes everywhere. The girl hadn’t bothered to clean up her place much, but it wasn’t like Woohyun cared how people lived.

He took his seat on a chair in front of her as she sat on her bed. It felt embarrassing as she had just given him a handjob and he hadn’t done anything for her. “I am sorry for earlier. You had to do that in return for nothing.”

“It’s fine. I knew what I was getting into.”

There was silence for some time, then Woohyun spoke, “So about…”

“Yeah. We had a mission to gather supplies from the Daegu hospital. And I got lost somehow since a group of zoms had surrounded our group and some chased after me into an area. I was trapped and the land stopped behind me, so I had to either jump into the valley behind or get bitten.”

“And he was one of the zombies?” Woohyun did not know why he had come to that conclusion since Mijoo’s demeanour did not indicate she was about to drop a bomb of news like that. But in case it was something like that, he wanted to pretend it did not affect him, whatever happened to Sunggyu. That was a lie though since he was waiting for her to speak up, and if what he said turned out to be right, he was going to throw a hissy crying fit and probably stop living for a while. Sunggyu deserved it in his eyes, yet his heart did not want that to happen.

When Mijoo was not answering, he wanted to go to her to force the answer out from her, since it looked like she was teasing him if the smirk on her face was anything to go by. But before he could beg her to continue or something, she took mercy on him, “No. A lady saved me from the group of zoms. She shot those bitches down like a badass.” She celebrated.

Woohyun was nearing the end of his patience now. “And?”

“And she checked me for injuries. Once she was sure I wasn’t bit, she offered to help me to go to wherever I was heading. And, your boyfriend came from somewhere behind her and was shouting at her to not venture out by herself. She was pretty cool, I don’t know why he was being so protective of her.” Mijoo said.

She was about to say some more, but Woohyun stood up from the chair and went to her threateningly, “What did you just call him?”

“What?” She genuinely looked confused.

“My boyfriend?” Woohyun spat out, after debating whether he should even bring up a silly matter like that. But she might continue calling Sunggyu like that, so better tell her to not say that before the issue got out of hand.

“Isn’t he?” The obvious way in which she said that made Woohyun feel as if he was a fool.

“No? Would you be ready to have sex with someone who’s in a relationship?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Uh oh, maybe I shouldn’t have done that. But you are too irresistible sunbae.” Mijoo said. “And I was hoping that there would be chances that you have got over him you know, after all this time.”

Woohyun was turning red with the way she was talking, but… “Why do you think I am not over him? There wasn’t anything between us in the first place.”

Mijoo scoffed at that. “Yeah, whatever, but sunbae what is more important is what I did after I saw him.”

“What did you do? Set him on fire?” He wouldn’t put it past her. The girl was crazy. Okay, she wasn’t that crazy but…

“No. I killed him.” She grinned.

Woohyun sprang up from the chair, but before he could take a step forward, she shouted out.

“I am joking. I am joking.”

He went back to the chair and sat on it pouting. Mijoo was clearly playing with him, and he could not even do anything. He wanted to know what had happened after that, probably nothing. Sunggyu might have not even recognized her and she must have left. But he wanted to know how Sunggyu was, and if she had any information about him, and to ask that directly… was not what Woohyun wanted to do. He was hoping she would reveal whatever she knew by herself.

“Why are you so cute Woohyun sshi?” Mijoo chuckled.

Woohyun could easily force out the information from her, maybe not easily, but he could make her speak up. But he did not want to do that. She wasn’t harming him or something, he just wished she would not play with him like that.

Mijoo looked guilty all of a sudden, so Woohyun wondered if his pouting had that much of an effect on her. But what she said next made him understand why she felt guilty. “He recognized me. I could understand that from his expression, and he suddenly covered his face with a cloth, staying behind. The lady asked me about what I was doing there, and I told her that the head guard of my team was severely hurt with life threatening injuries including a bullet to his chest, which is why we were trying to get supplies from the hospital. And that we couldn’t get those supplies, and were returning.”

It took him a while to understand why she had lied like that. According to Sunggyu, Mijoo was a part of Woohyun’s team, since Sunggyu wouldn’t know that she had switched her team. So as per what she said, Sunggyu would think the head guard of Mijoo’s guard team was Woohyun, and that Woohyun was severely injured. “Why did you lie?”

“Dongwoo misses him.”

Woohyun did not have any arguments to that. He knew Mijoo was like a sister to Dongwoo (he hoped she wouldn’t tell him about what had happened between them tonight or Dongwoo might kill Woohyun), and her being concerned for Dongwoo was not wrong. She had lied hoping Sunggyu would return due to what she said. And she had done that for Dongwoo.

“He isn’t going to come back.” Woohyun sighed.

“He might want to help by bringing the medicines. I listed out some medicines which I needed to the lady, and she offered to help me get them, but I told her that we would try to manage with what he have. He heard all of that, and might want to help? I couldn’t see his expression, but he did listen to all what I was saying, since he was nearby.”

“But he really isn’t going to be back. He’s left for good Mijoo.”

“He might come back for you.”

“He wouldn’t.”

“Why do you think like that?” She looked hurt as if she was hurt by the fact that Sunggyu wasn’t going to come back to Woohyun, and that seemed ridiculous to Woohyun. Why would she be hurt because of Sunggyu and Woohyun’s problems?

“See I haven’t talked about this to many people, so I trust you not to spread this to others. But I did try okay? I tried a lot. I requested him. He was a person close to me. He was one of my closest friends. Do you think I would have not asked him to come back? He did not agree to return then. Why would he come back now?”

“I don’t know.” She looked confused and troubled.

She looked down at her hands, and for the first time tonight, Woohyun looked at her like a friend, and wanted to go tell her it was alright. Maybe he could ask Dongwoo to assure her that it was all good.

“What would you do if he came back though?” Mijoo looked at him.

Woohyun was taken aback. “Feed him to the dogs?” He said.

“But you have a cat right?”

“Ah puppy likes him. She won’t do anything to him. He was scared of her before but-” He stopped when he realized what he was doing. Why was he discussing the possibility of Sunggyu returning? And why was he talking about Sunggyu so lightly? The fucker deserved to be kicked and beaten. “I will kick him back out if he returns.” Woohyun said grimly. “Your efforts and lies will go into vain.”

“Sure, but first let Dongwoo have a talk with him. I lied for oppa. He’s been very worried about him, so I would appreciate it if you could let them talk first.”

“You should have lied about Dongwoo hyung being hurt. There would have been higher chances of him returning then. Despite whatever we talked about him returning, now the chances of that occurring are zero.” Woohyun said, closing his eyes and stretching out his arms from exhaustion piling over his body. It was getting close to dawn, and he really needed to sleep.

“He gave only you that though.”

Woohyun opened his eyes to look at what she was talking about, and she was pointing to somewhere near his chest. He looked downward and noticed the locket dangling from his neck. The locket wasn’t too over the top, so people didn’t generally note its existence unless they came very close to Woohyun, but those who knew Woohyun also knew that it belonged to Sunggyu before. What was Mijoo implying with her words though?

“He wanted you to protect yourself right? You can’t say he did not care for you.”

“What are you his lawyer? And how do you know he gave this to me asking me to look after myself? Wait, I know, Dongwoo right?” He sighed.

She smiled accepting his explanation. She really could be Dongwoo’s sibling with that cheerful attitude. Because normally, people who didn’t know Woohyun were scared of him, especially after he became the head guard. Even if he was acting like a baby, they would fear for their life. That’s what Sungyeol had told him, and that’s what he had experienced from the soldiers’ reaction to him too. Though the common folk in the village were more accepting of him. There were a lot of people who liked him among the village people. It sucked that he couldn’t interact with them or his parents, and had to stay among guards and soldiers most of the time.

Woohyun stood up to leave. “There isn’t anything more you have to say I guess. Thank you… for… everything…”

“I am sorry if you are troubled with what I did, lying to him and stuff. But I was hoping Dongwoo oppa would be happy. There were no news of Sunggyu sshi since he left, and no one even came across him during missions, so I did not want to let go of that opportunity.”

Hearing Sunggyu’s name out loud made Woohyun’s blood boil, but it was not like he could be angry at Mijoo. He thanked her and left to go sleep.

 

Another night, and Woohyun found himself on the inner side of the outermost wall again. Except this time, he was officially on duty there. Woohyun’s guard team had taken up the defence position, and at evening, one of their informants had shared that a huge group of zombies were heading in the direction of the village and that they could reach there anytime between midnight and morning.

The village could have sent a guard team to strike the zombies off there and then when they were far away from the village, but the scientists/doctors in the village wanted to have a close look at the conditions of zombies. And if the horde was killed off just outside the walls, it would be helpful for studying. The bodies could be burnt off later. Besides, they had a good enough defence structure from the walls with canons, arrows and guns. And the area outside the wall was a forest area so if the situation got out of hand, they could create a forest fire, and make everything inside the forest burn.

Woohyun was the only member of his guard team present on top of the walls; he did not consider it necessary to have the others present for killing off mere zombies even if there were like thousands of them advancing towards the village. The walls were sturdy enough. Besides, the zombies would be killed off before they could even touch the walls. On the other hand, even one or two looters were dangerous and required more number of people to defend against. So in this case, since it wasn’t looters, Woohyun could manage being the only guard as the head of the group of soldiers against the zombies.

Also Woohyun couldn’t sleep properly at night anymore, and could be productive by killing the brainless creatures. Besides, he needed to distract himself from what he had learnt yesterday.

He took his post inside the northern guard tower, since the horde was advancing from the north. They were walking quite slowly, so Woohyun asked the guards to light up the lanterns over the walls. It would help the soldiers locate the zombies better, plus the undead would increase their pace, once they located humans. It would be nice if the horde could be destroyed before midnight struck.

Woohyun sat down on a chair inside the tower looking at the surrounding areas through the binoculars. He really needed to distract himself.

It seemed like the horde would still take about fifteen minutes to reach the wall, so he excused himself and went to one of the resting rooms located at a distance.

Even vile zombies and their horrendous aura approaching couldn’t manage to distract him. Woohyun shut the door behind him, in the room, which was meant as a resting place for guards. He lied down on the couch, hoping to catch a nap. The soldiers would come to him to wake him up; he had requested one of them to inform him when the horde was close enough. But sleep wouldn’t come.

His mind wandered to thinking how Sunggyu would be. It hadn’t been much of a problem to Woohyun, his memories with Sunggyu; he could manage to suppress them generally. But it was almost a year now since the older had left the village, and whenever Woohyun noticed the potential guard candidates for this year train and getting ready for the exam, and with all the preparations for the exam, he would be reminded of their situation last year.

Tears slipped from his eyes. He did not want to think about Sunggyu. He hated him with all he had. Couldn’t the older have returned? Did he not value them even a little?

If he had actually cared for him, Sunggyu might have come running back when Mijoo had lied to him that Woohyun was injured, but even that hope he had held since yesterday was quashed.

Woohyun did not even know why he was hoping for Sunggyu to return. Maybe his heart still loved the older that much.

He did not want to be a loser. Was his existence material only if Sunggyu existed? Woohyun did not want that. His life was important on its own too. Why should he give up because some fucker had decided to play with his feelings and leave him alone? Even if that fucker was his best friend of years, his friend who would be there for him whenever needed…

He couldn’t live with all the emotions plaguing him. Opening the locket lying on top of his heart, he pulled out the piece of paper. It contained a song he had written and composed laying out his feelings. He wanted to throw the piece of paper and let it burn away along with his feelings. But the song was etched on his heart anyway It was what he felt. Putting feelings into music- that had been one of Woohyun’s interests since childhood.

Maybe if they lived in a world prior to the apocalypse, Woohyun could have been a musician just like grandmother had been. And Sunggyu would be a singer. And Dongwoo and Hoya could have been dancers. They could have formed a band like those which books from pre-apocalypse world mentioned. Even Sungyeol, Myungsoo and Sungjong would have joined them.

And then when it would have been time for them to debut, Sunggyu would ditch them. Woohyun let out a hollow laugh at that, and put the paper back inside the locket. One of these days, he was going to turn crazy.

 

There was a knock on the door and Woohyun wiped the tears off his face, getting back into his duty mode.

The soldiers seemed to be panicking for some reason. Woohyun tried to understand what the reason for the disturbance in the atmosphere of the defence line could be.

He asked for a report.

“Sir, the enemy is moving very quickly. They will be here in no time.” The soldier reporting to him said.

“That’s a good thing. We wanted that to happen, didn’t we? I asked for the light up of our walls for that very reason, so they could locate us and try to reach for us.”

“But they are faster than normal zombies, sir. And there isn’t a single sound coming from the horde, except for the sound of walking. And it seems like they haven’t noticed us yet.”

That seemed impossible. Woohyun studied the situation. There were no noises, true, and the other observations made by the soldiers were true too. But how could it be like that? How could there be no moans from zombies?

He looked through the binoculars but there wasn’t enough light available for him to study the condition of the horde. Were they even zombies in the first place? Because there was _absolutely_ no sounds of moaning come from the creatures. He fired an arrow at one of them, but the rest continued walking without purpose, so they were not definitely humans.

So he decided to conduct a test attack to learn more about the enemies. He ordered the soldiers to fire a flame at a group which were a bit separated from the main group.

When the flame landed, their bodies lit up with the fire. And Woohyun used that as an opportunity to study the zombies surrounding the ones burning.

And the sight that greeted him was horrible. All of the zombies’ eye sockets were empty. So they were all blind. From that Woohyun deduced that maybe their vocal chords were also ruptured or something. This was quite a possible occurrence, since some weird cults existed here and there. They could have done this kind of thing.

Or it could be the work of scientists who were trying to find a vaccine or something, and ended up creating this. Woohyun hoped these creatures did not have any unexpected abilities, because as the soldiers had reported, the horde seemed to walk at a pace faster than regular zombies.

And Woohyun concluded they still could hear and smell, because there was some, if not huge, reaction from the surrounding zombies when Woohyun had ordered for the group to be burnt.

Time to test.

Woohyun climbed down the ladder to the outside world, on the other side of the wall. The soldiers were all ready to fire if something were to hurt him, and Woohyun had wondered if he should have asked one of the guards from his team to accompany him, but there was no time. Five more minutes and the horde would be real close to the wall.

He pedalled his bicycle straight to the crowd of the approaching creatures, stopping some distance away. The reaction of the crowd was bad, they started walking at a faster pace, as if they knew food was straight ahead.

Woohyun did not wait for a single second and pedalled back to the wall in full force. He signalled the guards to open fire on the horde. They couldn’t risk letting even a single zombie out of the horde getting close to the wall.

Just as he reached the wall, and was about to climb up, the head of the defence soldiers standing on top of the wall, gestured him to look to his left.

Woohyun did, but there was nothing there.

Wait.

Something was heading towards him.

Whether it was a zombie or a person Woohyun couldn’t guess, but the figure definitely had a normal walking gait, so Woohyun guessed it was a person.

They were probably trying to enter the settlement for shelter for the night. Occasionally, the village would get visitors like that. And they would give shelters to such persons too after examining them.

So they would have given this person shelter, but in this situation, it seemed impossible, since the person was really far away, and too close to the horde of zombies.

The main gate of the north side of the wall was in front of where Woohyun was standing. The person might not have seen the soldiers on top of the wall since the soldiers were not right at the edge. And there was a chance that this person did not even know about the horde of zombies approaching, Woohyun thought, since the horde made no noise.

Fuck, he couldn’t save the person. He wondered if they could drop a ladder for the person to climb at the place where the person was, but the person was still far away from the wall.

How was Woohyun supposed to save them? What if the person was bitten? He couldn’t take the risk. The horde was getting closer, and the soldiers started throwing flames and shooting arrows.

The person should have obviously noticed that because they stopped running. A few zombies from the horde switched directions and headed towards where the person was. Woohyun wondered if he should try to save whoever it was. It seemed impossible, but even if he were to try, he first had to verify if the being was human. He put on his binoculars and tried to focus his gaze.

And his heart almost stopped beating.

It was his Sunggyu.

What the hell.

This was shitty luck. He cycled his way to the direction where Sunggyu was. The zombies approaching that side were walking at a dangerously fast pace, and they were going to reach Sunggyu soon.

As Woohyun almost reached Sunggyu, he noticed how the older was crouching behind bushes now preparing to attack. When Sunggyu’s gaze fell on Woohyun, his eyes widened comically.

Woohyun could identify confusion and relief in his eyes. Woohyun jumped off his cycle, and ran towards where the older was. Before he could reach him however, a tree between them caught fire.

Sunggyu barely managed to avoid it and Woohyun wondered why the soldiers were opening fire near him, when he realized they were surrounded by a group of few zombies who all lunged at them together. He managed to strike down three of them who had tried to bite him. They were amazingly fast, but three was a number he could manage. He turned around to notice if Sunggyu had managed to protect himself but the older was nowhere in his sight.

The trees around him were burning, and it would be the best option to flee from there as soon as possible, but Woohyun was panicking.

Where was Sunggyu? Woohyun searched through the bushes and found two zombies who had their heads smashed in. Sunggyu had managed to strike them down, had Sunggyu managed to escape then?

Woohyun’s pants caught fire from the vegetation burning on the ground. He put it off and decided to look around for one last time. There was a huge tree lying down on the ground and he jumped over it to study the area around.

And Sunggyu was lying below the tree.

The older was unconscious and buried under the weight of the tree.

Woohyun prayed and prayed that Sunggyu was alive. He tried to shake him and wake him up, while keeping notice of the surroundings, but Sunggyu was still unconscious. He was breathing though, and that made Woohyun relieved.

It took a while for Woohyun to remove Sunggyu’s body from under the tree. Sunggyu’s stomach was bleeding and there were some scratches and cuts on his hands too, and Woohyun hoped that none of those were bite marks.

He did not have the time to check, so he picked up Sunggyu in his arms and started running to the east side away from the mess. There were around ten zombies that had managed to tail them, and it had been really hard fighting them while taking care of Sunggyu.

For some time, he placed Sunggyu on the ground a little farther away, and tried to fight off the zombies, but the zombies would try to go to Sunggyu too.

That the undead were still after Sunggyu, made Woohyun slightly relieved since it meant that the older was still a human, because the undead never tried to go after one of their own.

It was an exhausting journey to the east side of the perimeter, since he had ditched his cycle behind. There was supposed to be an outpost of soldiers in some distance, and soon enough, he caught sight of it.

Someone climbed down from the side of the wall with a sword and Woohyun recognized that it was Doojoon, one of the guards of the twelfth guard team.

Doojoon took one look at Woohyun who was all sweaty from running around in the forest fire, clothes torn here and there, and then the guard took another look at Sunggyu in his arms, bloodied.

“Safe?” Doojoon asked.

“Safe.” Woohyun answered, and fell down on the ground from the exhaustion overtaking him.

 

There was an incessant ringing in his ears as Woohyun had been made subject to listen to Sungyeol and Myungsoo nagging on him. Hoya had joined in on the ‘ragging Woohyun’ drama too. And Dongwoo had been just bawling his eyes out. Sungjong had been the only calm one, bandaging Woohyun and treating him where he was burnt and also cleaning his and Sunggyu’s small wounds.

Sunggyu had been given proper medical attention by the village doctors who were brought into the guard quarters.

The five of his friends had left Woohyun alone after helping him shift Sunggyu to his house. Dongwoo had insisted on taking Sunggyu to his house, but Woohyun had argued till Dongwoo had given up. And now Sunggyu was lying on Woohyun’s bed.

The doctor had said that Sunggyu might wake up in some time, so Woohyun simply stood next to where the older was lying and studied Sunggyu’s features.

His friends had asked him to not get into a fight with Sunggyu when he woke up, because as much as they wanted to scold the older too, Sunggyu was hurt.

Woohyun scoffed at that, because he was hurt too, but the others had babied him before leaving, and had fussed all over him, even scolding him for not calling them as back up for confronting the horde of zombies, so it was not like they did not care for him.

Woohyun completely focused his mind to studying Sunggyu lying on the bed in front of him.

Sunggyu had become thinner since the last time Woohyun had seen him. His hair was now a bit longer, but otherwise he looked the same. He looked sick too, but that must have been the result of the weight of the tree on him, and the cuts over his body.

Woohyun’s hands moved automatically to Sunggyu’s head to remove the bangs falling over his eyes, but he retracted it at the right moment. Did Woohyun have the right to touch Sunggyu anymore?

The older might already have a partner. The lady Mijoo had encountered could have been Sunggyu’s lover. Was she someone Sunggyu knew of before or did he meet her outside? Mijoo had told Woohyun how protective Sunggyu was over her, so the lady should be someone important to Sunggyu.

It hurt Woohyun a lot, his heart was still aching for Sunggyu. His hatred was intensified, but so was his love.

The waterworks started all of a sudden and since he knew he was going to sob loudly, he ran to the couch in the far end of the room. Burying his head into his arms, he cried himself to sleep.

 

A loud sound woke him up from his sleep, and he tried to focus his surroundings into his view.

Wait… Sunggyu was walking to the door.

Woohyun leapt out from the couch, and held Sunggyu’s arm. “Where are you going?” He asked, his voice deep and desperate.

Sunggyu tried to remove Woohyun’s hand from his arm, but he was injured and Woohyun did not loosen his grip. “Away. Let me go.”

Woohyun had expected this, he had expected Sunggyu would be like this when he would wake up, but his heart still broke into shards for the hundredth time. “You are hurt.” He tried to convince him to stay.

“I will manage. Thank you for saving me.” Sunggyu tried to remove Woohyun’s grip to no success again.

“You are staying here until you are completely healed. I won’t hear anything against that.” Woohyun raised his voice.

Sunggyu looked surprised at that, but exhaustion must have caught him, because he turned back to the bed, and lied down on it.

“If you try to leave again, I’ll make you a prisoner here. I am not joking.” Woohyun warned, and went back to sleep.

It did not even take ten minutes for Woohyun to pretend he was sleeping that Sunggyu was out of the door.

Woohyun managed to catch him before he could run and disappear into the darkness of the night.

He pulled the older inside carefully so as to not aggravate his injuries, and made him sit on the bed, locking his hands with the cuffs he had under the bed.

Yes, he had those ready before hand to deal with Sunggyu. He knew how stubborn the older was.

Sunggyu was watching him with a piercing gaze and struggling to be let out, but Woohyun simply pushed him down and linked the cuff to the wall next to the bed, so Sunggyu could lie down on the bed, but not run away.

And what happened next? Sunggyu started shouting on the top of his voice, so Woohyun shut his mouth by tying a cloth around it.

It did not stop there, and Sunggyu was trying to free his wrists from the cuffs. It was hurting his wrists and Woohyun couldn’t bear to see the scene anymore.

“Listen please don’t do this.”

Sunggyu stopped for a moment, waiting to hear what Woohyun was saying.

“I promise I won’t try to make you do anything you don’t want to. I just want you to heal completely before leaving. You can leave after two or so days when your injuries heal.”

Sunggyu’s eyes did not show satisfaction and he was again going to try to get out of the cuffs.

“Please. I won’t even let anyone enter this place. Dongwoo and everyone, they want to be here, but I will make them stay away. I will make everyone stay away. Just don’t go before you heal please.”

Sunggyu considered his request. It seemed like he would still not accept, but then he nodded slowly.

Woohyun removed the cloth from over his mouth hesitantly. He was expecting to hear an outburst, but there was none.

“I expect you to stick to your promises.” Sunggyu said.

Woohyun nodded and removed the cuffs from Sunggyu’s hands.

The older looked surprised as if he wasn’t expecting that.

“Don’t break my trust again.” Woohyun said, and went to the couch to catch sleep.

 

And Sunggyu left him alone behind once again.

Woohyun couldn’t believe that he was betrayed again, but of course he was a rag doll who was going to be used and thrown throughout. He caught sight of Sunggyu in the distance suddenly, so he ran to him.

But there was a well in the way. And he fell into it.

Sunggyu was calling out to him from above, but Woohyun was drowning in the water of the well, and despite trying to swim to the surface, he couldn’t manage to stay over the water. Sunggyu was still calling out for him, and Woohyun cursed his luck as his whole body submerged in the water.

But suddenly an angel descended from the skies and he was brought up to the surface.

Woohyun was brought out of his ridiculous dream by Mijoo who was shaking him awake.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, rubbing his eyes. He glanced over to the bed, and was relieved to find that Sunggyu was still there sleeping.

“Dongwoo oppa wanted to come, but he told me someone who Sunggyu sshi doesn’t know might be a better person to check up on you.” Mijoo said.

“Tell him and the others to stay away. I have promised Sunggyu that everyone would stay away from him for the duration he is staying here.”

“They wouldn’t be happy.” Mijoo said, indicating Woohyun to show his arm to her. There were still some small wounds not covered, and she had a medicine box with her, to help her patch him up.

“I know, but there was no other option.”

“I told you he would come.” Mijoo said.

“How do you know he’s here for me? There could have been other reasons.”

“Yeah. Believe whatever you want to.”

“If that’s the reason though, he’ll kill you if he sees you.”

“Yes.” A voice came from in front of Woohyun and behind Mijoo. It was Sunggyu who was completely awake, and looking at Mijoo angrily.

Woohyun for some reason felt protective of her. She was basically the reason Sunggyu was even there. So he brought her to the side, away from Sunggyu.

Sunggyu narrowed his eyes at that. “Why did you lie?” He asked her.

Oh so Sunggyu had actually come for Woohyun. Sick. “That’s none of your business.” Woohyun answered instead of her.

“Did you ask her to lie?” Sunggyu asked him.

“No” Woohyun answered. “Why the fuck would I do that?”

Sunggyu did not have any answer to that.

Woohyun turned to Mijoo. “Do you have to fix him too?”

“I need to change the dressings.” Mijoo replied.

“Then do that. I’ll go get freshened up. If there’s any problem, feel free to ask for me or come to me. I’ll try to be back soon.” Saying that to Mijoo, he left.

 

This was really stupid. Sunggyu was incredibly angry at the girl who was tending to him. He knew her by her name and that she was one of Dongwoo’s friends.

But for some reason, Sunggyu did not like her. It was not her behaviour. Maybe it was because Woohyun had been acting too friendly with her. It felt like the two had a connection. And, it irked Sunggyu.

He did not have the time to meddle with all of that though. He had promised someone that he would return within twenty four hours and it was already around ten hours since he had left on this journey.

If Sunggyu did not report back within the next fourteen hours, there could be problems.

But then again, Woohyun did not seem to have any wrong intentions, and only wanted Sunggyu to heal before leaving and Sunggyu couldn’t say no to that request.

It was difficult for Sunggyu to say no to Woohyun. Considering how heart-wrenching it had been to leave Woohyun and his home behind, he did not want to experience it again. Nor did he want Woohyun to have feelings for him again, only for Sunggyu to crush them again.

Sunggyu knew Woohyun loved him. He had known that since a long time. Because he loved Woohyun too. He had loved Woohyun even before they had start using each other for comfort and pleasure.

Woohyun’s presence had always been soothing to him, and it was very hard not to fall in love with the younger.

Sunggyu had for years thought that his love would remain one-sided forever, but then Woohyun had been the one to initiate physical contact.

It had made Sunggyu feel dirty, because it felt like he was using Woohyun, so Sunggyu in the beginning, had tried to avoid initiating stuff, but Woohyun would keep on coming to him, and Sunggyu couldn’t refuse.

And even though their relationship was not defined, Woohyun was not the kind to go to others for comfort when he had Sunggyu, so Sunggyu could pretend they actually loved each other.

But as time passed, he had realized Woohyun probably liked him too. It had taken him a while to accept that fact, because Sunggyu had never fathomed that Woohyun would like a person like Sunggyu. Woohyun needed a lot of love, and Sunggyu did not think he had in himself to give that.

But with Woohyun, it came naturally. The need to give and receive at the same time was equal, and Sunggyu wanted to give as much as he received if not more.

But then he had a major task to accomplish.

Initially, he had considered asking for his friends’ help to complete his mission. But once he was deep into it, he had realized it would probably take a decade or more to get over with it, and that’s when he had realized, that love wasn’t meant for him to experience.

He had dreamt of a day when Woohyun would confess his love for him and Sunggyu would have to no longer hold back his feelings then. But when that eventually came, Sunggyu had to reject Woohyun and that hadn’t been easy at all.

The memories from that day always brought tears to his eyes, and he tried to control himself not to show weakness in front of Mijoo. He had to try to avoid contact with everyone here. Any contact, and it would be a trouble leaving again.

His heart ached to meet his friends, his family here- Sungjong’s family, and his neighbours, Woohyun’s family, some senior guards. He wanted to go visit his home in the middle of the village, the place where he had spent his childhood with his dad.

He knew better than to return here. But Mijoo had tricked him, and he had fallen for it.

“Why did you lie to me?” He asked her.

She was done with her work and was preparing to leave. Sunggyu’s words stopped her, and she turned in his direction. “For Dongwoo oppa. He wanted to meet you.”

“Dongwoo told you to lie?” Sunggyu couldn’t believe it.

“No, but I knew he wanted to meet you, to know how you are doing.”

“He hates me probably.”

“Yes he does. But he was also worried. Is there anything you need?”

“No thank you.”

“Then I’ll take my leave. Please stay here till Woohyun oppa returns.” Mijoo was about to leave, but Sunggyu made her stop again.

“Wait.”

She was at the door now, so Sunggyu got up from the bed, and walked to her.

When he was close enough, he asked her, “What is your relationship with Woohyun?”

Mijoo looked stunned, but she came to her senses soon. “Why do you want to know?”

“I want to know if he’s doing well. If it’s with you, he is happy, I wouldn’t mind.”

Mijoo looked at him curiously. “Really? I thought you liked him.”

Were his feelings that obvious? Yes, he did like Woohyun and if there was something brewing between Woohyun and Mijoo, he would be bothered by it, which was one of the reasons why he wanted to know if his doubts were right. But, on the other hand, Woohyun’s happiness mattered to him. Since he had been the one to make him sad one year ago, if Woohyun had managed to move on, it would give him a bit of comfort despite the fact that his heart would be broken. “That doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It does.” She replied as if that was the only truth.

“Do you like him?”

“Yes.”

Sunggyu had not expected her to answer that quickly, but it was also apparent from her demeanour when she spoke of him that she held admiration for Woohyun. “Does he like you?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you think of Woohyun?”

“Huh?”

“What are your feelings for Woohyun?” Sunggyu wanted to know if she really liked him, or simply held an admiration for him. Mijoo was a nice girl, someone suitable for Woohyun, from what Sunggyu had known of her character from Dongwoo’s talks. He only wanted to confirm of her love for Woohyun.

“I don’t want to share that with you.” She replied.

Huh. That was alright. He couldn’t demand to know that anyway. “Okay. Do you think he likes you?”

“I don’t really know. Why do you have so many questions Sunggyu sshi??”

“Ah sorry” It must have weirded her out.

“I think he should like me a little, otherwise he wouldn’t have agreed to be together with me, you know?” Mijoo said hesitatingly.

That made Sunggyu feel like a ton of bricks had hit him. “You have been together already?”

“Yes.” Mijoo said, blush forming on her cheeks.

And Sunggyu had to try his best to not let his upset feelings show. “Then maybe he does like you.” He said. “I wish you the best.”

Mijoo thanked him and left.

And Sunggyu bundled himself in Woohyun’s blankets.

Of course Woohyun had to have been with someone else. After Sunggyu had treated the younger like that, he would have needed comfort, and Mijoo probably gave him that. It made Sunggyu feel sick. He touched his forehead and it was burning. Great. First, he had injuries, and now he had fever on top of that.

He realized he was being a burden to Woohyun. The younger had moved on already, and Sunggyu had again tried to take away his happiness. Some part of his mind thought that maybe Woohyun just needed someone to keep his mind off Sunggyu and could have gone to Mijoo, but that could also mean he liked her.

But Woohyun had saved Sunggyu the night before. Did the younger still have feelings for him? Because Sunggyu did not know. The way Woohyun had reacted after seeing him and how he had been to him till now, gave him mixed feelings. He was hated by Woohyun, he knew, but there was also some kind of warmth Sunggyu could still feel coming for him from Woohyun.

Images of Woohyun with Mijoo assaulted his mind, and Sunggyu decided to leave the village for once and all. He couldn’t bear to have all that in mind, and what was the worst was that he had to force himself to not interact with anyone. He wanted to ask his friends and family to forgive him. He wanted to hug Woohyun and ask him to forgive him. He wanted to be here with them again, be a part of the guard team along with his friends, and stay with Woohyun forever.

And those thoughts were ridiculous. All of the others had moved on, Sunggyu was the only one stuck in the past. He couldn’t ask them to bring their feelings for him back. He had no right to ask them to care for him. He missed everyone so much; it hurt him to stay here. And now that he was alone, all the thoughts were eating him alive.

When Woohyun was there with him before, he would be enough to serve as a distraction, but now Sunggyu couldn’t stop himself from crying. He wanted to leave and go back to where he had come from, outside the village, far away from the place he held dear.

He hoped Woohyun would take some time to return, because Sunggyu wasn’t in the state to argue with him, not when he was sobbing. So he looked to the door.

And… the younger was there, standing inside the house in front of the door. Since when was he there?

Sunggyu wiped his face with the sleeves of his t-shirt.

Woohyun was staring at him continuously, and Sunggyu hoped he would be successful in hiding all his emotions, because Woohyun could read him better than others, and Sunggyu did not want to make him sad once again, by letting the younger know of his emotional turmoil.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	5. 04. stop

 

 

 

It was four in the evening now. Woohyun had taken a leave from work for today, and he had been granted that easily.

Everyone in the village knew of Sunggyu’s arrival, and the pitiful looks Woohyun was getting did not make him happy.

In the guard quarters, the restrooms were shared between guard teams. So Woohyun had indicated to Sunggyu the direction of the restroom and made the older go outside at a time when all his friends had left for work. The two barely talked, and when Sunggyu learned that Woohyun’s team had only six members now, he seemed surprised.

That would have been an ideal team had Sunggyu also been there, all the seven of them were really meant to be a team, but none of the two brought that up.

Lunch had passed as a quiet affair too, with Woohyun bringing food from the mess, and serving it for the two of them.

Once they were done with the food, Woohyun went straight to sleep. For some reason, Sunggyu being in the same room as him, made him sleep better. Woohyun had already missed sleeping for many nights due to his insomnia and it wasn’t like they would chit chat or something, so Woohyun had decided to catch the lost sleep.

For four hours, he got the best sleep he had in a while, but then he woke up and it was around four in the afternoon, so he decided to check up on Sunggyu once.

Sunggyu was still there sleeping on the bed, and it made Woohyun relieved. He had been really worried that the older might leave without telling again. And Sunggyu had been crying earlier in the morning, the sight making Woohyun want to scold Mijoo.

Mijoo had told him she had told Sunggyu that they had been together before, implying there was something between Woohyun and Mijoo. And while she had assured Woohyun that she was not trying to get close to him anymore and she had done that only to gauge how Sunggyu would react to what she said, it still did not sit well with Woohyun.

Because he knew if someone were to tell him Sunggyu had moved on, and had forgotten Woohyun, it would break him. Woohyun could still see the hint of warmth for him in Sunggyu’s eyes. And though Sunggyu was allowed to be in a relationship with anyone he wanted, Woohyun would still be upset.

And that might be the case actually. Sunggyu might have moved on. Just like Woohyun had tried to. Woohyun had tried with Mijoo, but that did not go far. And there were no chances that Woohyun was going to even try for the next few years, because Woohyun’s heart still ached for one person.

Which is why, he had been upset to find Sunggyu crying. He had so badly wanted to go to him and hug him into his embrace, kiss his tears away.

Sunggyu would cry from time to time, before when he lived in the village, but he did not seek comfort from anyone for his worries. Sunggyu would come to Woohyun, but never cry to him. And this time, when the older looked so exposed and vulnerable and dejected, Woohyun wanted to take all his sadness away from him. He wanted to be his support.

This was the same heart wrenching feeling he had when Sunggyu had cried upon Woohyun declaring his love for him a year ago. Woohyun had wanted to take away all the sadness from him and bring his smile back. But Sunggyu hadn’t let him. And knowing Sunggyu, he wouldn’t let Woohyun close to him this time too. So Woohyun had tried to stay far from him.

Did Woohyun even know Sunggyu? Sometimes, it felt like all that they had between them was a lie. Why would Sunggyu have to hide something from Woohyun otherwise? Woohyun had laid all of him bare to Sunggyu except his heart, and when he had done that too, he was still rejected.

He wasn’t going to be able to sleep anyway again. So he stood up and went along with his plan to check on Sunggyu.

The older was bundled up in Woohyun’s blankets, and was in Woohyun’s clothes which Woohyun had lent to him for wearing after bath. It brought a feeling of warmth in Woohyun’s chest to see him in all cuddled up like that at his place.

The bed in this new house was bigger and Woohyun could very well sleep next to Sunggyu comfortably, but he couldn’t do that too.

His fingers itched to touch the soft skin once, but his mind knew not to. He stayed where he was, standing next to the bed, looking at the bundle move up and down from Sunggyu’s breathing.

A groan came from the older after some time and Woohyun thought he had mistaken it, but Sunggyu was really groaning. The older made soft disturbed noises, and looked agitated.

“Hyung” Woohyun called out to him.

But Sunggyu was not waking up, instead he was moving uneasily and the sounds of discomfort from him increased.

“Sunggyu” Woohyun tried again, but when Sunggyu still wouldn’t wake up, Woohyun tried to shake him awake. That turned out to be unsuccessful too, so Woohyun made Sunggyu turn towards him, and when his hand accidentally touched Sunggyu’s face, he realized the older was burning up.

Shit, Sunggyu had a fever.

Woohyun tried to wake him again, and after some tries, the older opened his eyes. His face looked feverish, and Woohyun could feel the heat coming from his body.

“Sunggyu” He said shakily.

Sunggyu looked unfocused, and when his eyes landed on Woohyun, he smiled.

Woohyun wanted to cry at that.

Why…

His heart was a mess of emotions at the sweet little smile Sunggyu directed at him, and he did not know anything anymore. He sat down on the bed fully, and brought Sunggyu up in his lap carefully, hugging him.

Sunggyu did not resist, but hugged Woohyun back, and though the older was burning up slightly, it wasn’t too bad, so Woohyun was relieved. Sunggyu still seemed to be in a sleepy mode though. He still had that smile on his face, and the injuries and stress might have made him sick, Woohyun thought.

The older snuggled closer to him, Woohyun simultaneously bringing him even closer. It felt so fucking satisfying having Sunggyu pressed against his body, Woohyun felt tears brimming in his eyes.

Wetness clouded his vision, and when he tried to make them go away by closing his eyes, tears slipped through them. He did not care however, that he was pathetically crying. He got to hold Sunggyu, and Sunggyu was not pushing him away, that was all that mattered.

But happiness as always did not last long. Sunggyu seemed to have come to his senses, because he was trying to push Woohyun away. The right thing to do would have been to let him go and apologize, but Woohyun did not want to do that.

“Woohyun” Sunggyu was trying to make him let go, but Woohyun refused to do that.

“Five minutes please” He said.

A chuckle came out of Sunggyu, but he stopped trying to push Woohyun away, and instead let him do whatever he wanted.

That wasn’t better, and somehow made Woohyun realize that he was forcing Sunggyu to do something he did not want to. So he pulled away despite how much he yearned for the older, and placed Sunggyu on the bed.

Fetching some medicines for fever, he made Sunggyu swallow them, and put the older to sleep.

 

Woohyun’s touch was magical, Sunggyu thought. He was feeling a lot better now, and felt like exercising for some time, since he had rested the whole day.

He was alone in the room, and he pulled aside the curtain to look at the time. The clock said seven thirty, and it had already become dark. There was some light visible around the area, so Sunggyu slowly pushed open the front door and looked outside.

A big fire was lit in the small open space between the houses, and some people were sitting on mats on the ground around the fire.

All guard teams had been assigned different areas to them, and there was fencing among the areas separating the teams. So inside this area, only members of the sixteenth guard team would be present, unless others were invited, Sunggyu presumed.

So all those gathered around the fire would be his friends, Sunggyu deduced. He wanted to go there and look at them.

How were they? Were they doing well? Had Sungjong grown taller? Was Dongwoo still as cheerful? Was Hoya able to maintain his muscles? Had Myungsoo managed to overcome his awkwardness? Had Sungyeol managed to improve himself in wrestling? A lot of questions were running in his mind, and Sunggyu wanted to go talk to them, or at least have a glimpse of them since he couldn’t see them clearly from the door, but he couldn’t. He was the one who had asked everyone to stay away after all.

So he decided to shut the door and retreat back to staying by himself, when he noticed a figure walking towards him. The person was walking weirdly, and their gait reminded Sunggyu of a zombie, so Sunggyu was alert all of a sudden. But the figure seemed really familiar.

As it neared him, Sunggyu noticed it was Woohyun.

The younger came to a stop in front of him. He had definitely drunk alcohol, guessing from his weird walking and how he was smiling eerily. They had gone drinking together many times, so Sunggyu knew how the younger would be when drunk.

“Come on.” Woohyun said, supporting himself on the door.

Sunggyu could smell the alcohol from him, but thankfully it was not too much. “Where?”

“Out. I am singing next.”

Sunggyu turned his gaze to the gathering and someone was randomly dancing, probably Dongwoo judging from the body waves. “I am not coming. You promised me you wouldn’t make me meet anyone.”

“Please” Woohyun was pouting now.

And Sunggyu was weak to that. But he had learnt how to say no to Woohyun finally, even though it broke his heart. “No.”

He was about to shut the door, when he noticed another figure heading towards them. It was Sungyeol.

Sungyeol did not make any change of expression upon noticing Sunggyu. Sunggyu noticed how Sungyeol had grown a bit taller, and had become even thinner. He felt the need to ask him to stop concentrating on his weight.

Sungyeol focused on his speed as his special skill, and Sunggyu was the one who had made the younger rigorously implement a diet for the same years ago, but now it disturbed him because Sungyeol looked close to lifeless. Did he have any worries? Sunggyu was about to ask that when he realized how hypocritical it would be. Besides, not maintaining contact with anyone would be the most painless option.

Sungyeol tried to make Woohyun lean on him and take him back to the gathering.

But Woohyun wasn’t obeying. He was looking at Sunggyu. “Please come. For one night? Please Sunggyu.”

The request made Sunggyu choke on his feelings. “No.” He said, a bit hesitatingly this time.

“Why are you even trying? He doesn’t care for us anymore.” Sungyeol said to Woohyun.

There wasn’t a single hint of friendliness in his tone, and Sunggyu wanted to drown himself.

“Hyung’s injured Yeolie” Woohyun said.

Sungyeol softened a bit, and his gaze moved to examining Sunggyu’s body.

Sunggyu was not sure how he looked, but he had noticed a few scratches on his limbs, and there was a huge bandage around his stomach.

Sungyeol turned to Woohyun again. “Hyung, he’s not going to come. If you want to rest for the night here and not come back outside, it’s fine.”

“No I want to sing.”

“Sing?” Sungyeol looked incredulously at Woohyun and Sunggyu wondered why. “Really?” Sungyeol asked.

“Yes.” Woohyun answered. He seemed to have sobered up and was standing on his own now.

Sungyeol turned to Sunggyu. “If you can come for a few minutes, it would be nice. It’s been a long time since Woohyun hyung has sung, and he would not if you are not there I suppose.”

That was like another stab to Sunggyu’s heart. Music meant a lot to Woohyun, as much as it did to Sunggyu. That Woohyun had stopped singing was worrisome, but who was he to think that? Sunggyu had been in no mood to go back to music in the past year too. Though he did compose a few songs, which he wouldn’t want anyone to listen. Those were the songs of desperation, loss and a hopeless world.

He agreed to Sungyeol’s proposal by nodding though, only because he wanted to hear Woohyun sing, and because with that excuse he could catch a glimpse of the others. He hoped they were not as worn out as Sungyeol. Guard duty probably really took a toll on them.

There was no acknowledgement of his presence, when Sunggyu sat in a faraway corner of the gathering, covered in a jacket lent by Woohyun. Heads turned to look at him, but no one made any gesture of interacting with him.

It pained him, but he was grateful too, that they were respecting his wishes of keeping distance. Or maybe they just hated Sunggyu and did not want to involve themselves with him ever again.

That was a likelier possibility and it hurt Sunggyu, but he was snapped out of his thoughts by the tune of a guitar playing roughly. As the initial notes ended, Woohyun’s voice accompanied the chords.

_I breathe but I’m not really breathing_

_My heart isn’t really my heart_

_Though you won’t understand_

_Baby I don’t wanna love you but I love you_

_I try to stop myself, try to comfort myself_

_But no matter how much I comfort myself, this pain won’t heal_

_You’ll probably never know_

_These days that are like hell_

_Only one thing I need, it’s you_

_But I can’t reach you, I can’t let you go_

_So what do you want me to do?_

_Let me break down, I can’t even turn around_

_It’s useless, hate you yeah_

_I hate you but I love you_

_I can’t take it, it hurts, it hurts so much, I miss you_

_My heart breaks so I can’t do anything_

_I hate I hate_

 

Woohyun’s eyes met Sunggyu’s and if someone’s gaze full of hatred could burn a person, then Sunggyu would be in the form of ashes now. There was every emotion Woohyun sung of, visible on his face, and Sunggyu was too stunned to run away from there.

_I hate you but I don’t hate you_

_I said I forgot you but I haven’t forgotten_

_My heart doesn’t feel like my heart_

_Baby I don’t wanna love you but I love you_

_This place is a desert with only doubts and no answers_

_I’m sure you’re comfortable leaving me behind here, go_

_I’ll probably never know_

_Why you left me_

_Only one thing I need, a short answer_

_But I can’t figure out, I can’t even ask_

_Why did you leave me here?_

_Let me break down, I can’t even turn around_

_It’s useless, hate you yeah_

_I hate you but I love you_

_I can’t take it, it hurts, it hurts so much, I miss you_

_My heart breaks so I can’t do anything_

_I hate I hate_

The younger was straight out crying now, and Sunggyu noticed someone, probably Sungjong, trying to go to Woohyun to stop him, but it did not seem like Woohyun would stop without finishing his story of sadness.

Sunggyu would have done anything, got Woohyun to stop, or flee from the village forever, but he was rooted to his spot. The emotions displayed in front of him mirrored his to some extent, and Sunggyu found himself sobbing both for his own broken heart and for the state of the man he loved so much.

_Trying to put my broken heart back together_

_But I’m getting cut from the pieces_

_Only thing left to do is endure for a long time_

_Please teach me how to withstand_

_Isn’t there a way?_

_So I can breathe comfortably again?_

_Please let me go now, so I won’t think of you all night_

_I’m so sick of it, hate you yeah_

_I hate you but I love you_

_I can’t take it, it hurts, it hurts so much, I miss you_

_My heart breaks so I can’t do anything_

_I hate I hate_

 

The last few words were mumbled, that didn’t make it any less terrible for Sunggyu.

The rest surrounded Woohyun, who was a sobbing mess himself.

Woohyun did not look at Sunggyu anymore, neither did any of the others.

It made Sunggyu realize how unwanted he was. His return had only disrupted their once perfect lives. Woohyun would have found love in Mijoo. The others wouldn’t have had to look at Sunggyu’s sorry ass anymore. The village would have turned out to continue being the perfect home it was.

And Sunggyu had returned, and disrupted it all. He should have run now. That was the best course of action he could have taken. But he couldn’t move.

It was difficult. His heart was in pain, his whole body burned with rage, sadness and loneliness. He missed everyone. He had been missing them since the past year. He missed them so much.

But no one missed him.

He still loved Woohyun more than he was capable of loving anyone, and even though Sunggyu had been the one to leave, it brought him immense grief that Woohyun had been able to move on. It would have brought even more sadness had Woohyun not been able to move on, but there was sadness in seeing him forget Sunggyu too.

And if that was not enough, even the comfort that Woohyun was probably happy having moved on was not there anymore, because Sunggyu had made Woohyun desperate and sorrowful again.

Seeing Woohyun cry like that was one of the most painful things ever, and Sunggyu wanted to end everything. He couldn’t bear anything anymore. It was the limit of his emotional capacity he had reached now. And there was no exit from there.

His head ached, body hurt, and heart grieved, but nothing was as painful as listening to the sound of Woohyun sobbing loudly again.

There was some commotion, probably people had gathered from the surrounding guard teams to enquire, Sunggyu didn’t bother to look. He was busy contemplating the best way to vanish from the earth.

There was someone waiting for him out of the village. He could probably leave a letter for them before leaving. Or was that necessary? Leaving letters had not helped him once. He should probably just disappear without any warning; that was the best.

Sunggyu slowly looked up to make sense of his surroundings.

There was no one close to him. The others were at a distance. He looked at everyone for one last time. Only Sungyeol’s and Dongwoo’s faces were visible to him, the rest had their backs turned to him. But he did not have the patience to wait for them to turn towards him.

They were fussing over Woohyun, who seemed completely sober and composed now, and was arguing back that he was fine.

What a lie, Sunggyu thought. He looked at Woohyun’s appearance for one last time, remembering the important moments he had spent with the younger. It took a while because every moment was important to him. He then realized how Woohyun’s current sad state was as a result of his actions, and took out the knife hidden in his socks.

One swift cut and all the pain would disappear, his and everyone’s.

Moving out of sight may raise suspicion, so he stayed where he was, hiding the knife inside the jacket. Then he brought the knife to focus at the nerve that was supposed to be cut, and landed a straight aim.

Except it did not pierce his hand, but… someone’s jacket.

W-what?

Sunggyu looked up to see Dongwoo standing in front of him, looking at him angrily.

“What are you doing?” Dongwoo asked. “Rather why are you doing this here? Don’t give us any more reasons to hate you, you foolish person!”

Dongwoo’s hand came in contact with Sunggyu’s cheek in a tight slap, and Sunggyu was going to faint, but he willed himself to stay focused.

It was now or never.

When the blood flow in his mind returned to a tolerable level, Sunggyu stood up and moved away from the place. Since the knife wasn’t bloody, it meant it had not managed to pierce Dongwoo’s arm, for that he was thankful.

Once he reached a secluded area, surrounded by trees everywhere, he brought the knife to his wrist again.

But separating himself from the scene that caused him pain, made him rethink his decision. Sunggyu had always been a person who tried to let logic supersede his emotions, and he had the mental capacity to not let things affect him. He was a person with a strong control on his emotions. That was his strength.

And though that was not always the case, since there were times when his emotions became too overbearing that they tried to consume him, he tried to think logically this once, when he had been given the chance to rethink the step he was about to take.

Taking a seat on one of the rocks, and surrounded by the trees and nature he had spent his life around, Sunggyu tried to put his emotions on the back of his mind, and think rationally.

What he was doing- was it right? He stopped as he realized he need not kill himself. If he did, it may make the others suffer more. Knowing them, they might blame Sunggyu’s death on themselves, and that was not what Sunggyu wanted to happen. That he had even attempted to suicide was a surprise to him because he had never thought of that before. His life hadn’t been a cakewalk, but he had always tried to find a way out of difficulties even when there was none.

Granted, this time the emotional burden had been excessive to handle, but Sunggyu trusted in himself to overcome that. Could he overcome this? More importantly, was there a way he could make the others happy and not feel as emotionally unstable as Sunggyu felt?

Trying to end himself, was not what he ought to do. It would make things more messed up. Rather he could leave the village once and for all and cut off all the ties he had with this place, despite how much it would make him suffer. His friends hated him, the person he loved hated him, and that might be something Sunggyu might not be able to get over. But he could ask the others to forgive him and promise never to return again. If that was possible, maybe this could work out.

Before he could come up with a plan of how to go about doing it however, the knife in his hands was snatched away.

That made Sunggyu confused, so he looked up and was met with the worrying gazes of six people. It made him calm down a little, as he could delude himself into thinking they still cared for him, and he smiled a little involuntarily. “I wanted to say something.” Sunggyu said, hoping he would be able to convey whatever he wanted to, before the demons in his mind came to the forefront again. It took a lot of efforts to keep himself calm.

But on hearing him speak, the expressions of the people in front of him turned into those of surprise, and soon they turned all cold towards him, hatred seeping through their faces, and that was as much Sunggyu could bear.

 

To say Myungsoo was simply angry was an understatement. He was agitated, agonized and extremely worried. Sunggyu had tried to take his own life today, and that was not something Myungsoo had ever expected to happen.

The Sunggyu he knew, loved himself, and knew how to ignore the harsh realities of life to carry on. Sunggyu had been subjected to a lot of sorrow since his childhood, having no presence of a mother figure in his life, having a father who gave the village more attention than his son, and the loneliness he had in his early years, enveloping him and affecting him at many points of his life.

Sunggyu had opened up slowly to others, starting with Dongwoo, then Sungjong and Woohyun, and then the others. Sunggyu had a few friends among the guards too, but Myungsoo had the feeling that the six of them were the closest to Sunggyu. And that was the case for Myungsoo too.

So even when four years ago, Hoya had left their village to go study the art of swordsmanship in a neighbouring village, it hadn’t felt like something was missing, because Hoya was always their friend. Even when Hoya had returned two years later, it was not like he had left them. He had always been their friend and will be.

But in Sunggyu’s case, his goodbye had seemed permanent, and that had been painful. None of them hated Sunggyu in reality, except maybe Woohyun who proclaimed his hatred for Sunggyu regularly, but even then Myungsoo knew it was a façade. Woohyun might hate Sunggyu for hurting him and leaving him, but the love always overpowered the hatred. That could be seen in how Woohyun acted around Sunggyu, and the emotions visible in his eyes for Sunggyu.

And that was how it was for Myungsoo and the others. They hated Sunggyu for leaving them like that, for worrying them, for not trusting them enough. But it wasn’t hate exactly, it was concern.

And the concern was a thousand times multiplied when Sunggyu had attempted to take his life today. Woohyun had promised Sunggyu that he would be allowed to leave the village once he was healed. But Myungsoo was not going to let that happen anymore.

Sunggyu might be living all alone outside. Who would be there to stop him there? No one most likely. Even if the older had made friends and acquaintances wherever he lived, what was the guarantee they would look after Sunggyu?

Myungsoo blamed himself for what happened today. He shouldn’t have let Woohyun continue singing. And Myungsoo shouldn’t have pretended to hate Sunggyu. That was not the way you were supposed to greet a friend whom you met after a long time. You were supposed to ask them how they were, whether they had any problems, whether they were eating well.

But what had Myungsoo done? Ignored Sunggyu, given him the cold treatment, and agreed to stay away when Sunggyu had asked Woohyun for that. And when Sunggyu had offered to talk finally, Myungsoo had looked at the older with contempt.

Now, looking at Sunggyu’s frail body lying on Woohyun’s bed, unconscious, Myungsoo couldn’t stop the tears which were flowing from his eyes. His friend looked so weak. No, his brother looked so weak. Sunggyu was as good as his brother, and how had he let his brother suffer like this? He should have not given up when Sunggyu had left them a year ago. He should have persisted like Woohyun had done, and then when Woohyun had given up finally, Myungsoo should have urged everyone to try again.

But, no, he had trusted Sunggyu would take care of himself. And the trust was broken to shreds now.

Myungsoo sat down on the bed, besides Sunggyu’s sleeping body.

A hand on his shoulder broke him out of his agony.

“Go take rest for a while. I’ll be here.” Sungjong assured him.

The younger looked sad too, his eyes red. Myungsoo gave him a hug and left him with Sunggyu.

As he stepped out of Woohyun’s house, he noticed the sombre mood outside. It was still dark outside, but was nearing dawn. His friends were still gathered around the fire. Dongwoo was lying down, his head on Hoya’s lap, eyes wide open. Sungyeol was sitting next to them, back hugging Woohyun.

Dongwoo had probably cried bucket loads of tears already, and Woohyun looked scarily expressionless, staring into the fire lifeless.

Myungsoo went over to where Hoya was, and offered to take care of Dongwoo for some time. Hoya accepted and left to take a break.

Dongwoo hugged Myungsoo, sitting on his lap, and Myungsoo felt comfortable in Dongwoo’s embrace. It was always nice to have him around.

“Did he wake up?” Sungyeol asked.

“No. Fever seems to have gone down, but he hasn’t moved.” Myungsoo replied.

Sungyeol hummed in reply, and went back to using Woohyun’s shoulder as support. It looked funny since Sungyeol had to bend down to lean on Woohyun’s shoulder, but it looked comfy too, and Myungsoo was tempted to join them in snuggling too. However, he already had a pillow to hug, so he did not make any move.

When Hoya returned, Dongwoo promptly lied down on Hoya’s lap again, and Myungsoo went over to the other two.

Sungyeol looked up and Myungsoo kneeled down to give Sungyeol a short kiss. Sungyeol looked exhausted, his eyes dead. Myungsoo would have cracked some lame joke to cheer Sungyeol up, but Sungyeol would be happier if Woohyun was happy, and that was what Myungsoo wanted too.

So he moved next to Woohyun, hugging him from the side. “Namu”

“Hmm”

“Let’s go to sleep now, shall we?”

“I want to go to my house.”

“Okay, but we will shift Sunggyu hyung to my house first. Let me inform Sungjong.”

Myungsoo moved to get up, but Woohyun stopped him. “No. I will stay with him.”

This… was not good. Sungyeol turned to Myungsoo with an alarmed look, and Myungsoo shared his concern too. “Sungyeol will be staying with you hyung. I will look after Sunggyu hyung.”

“Do you not trust me?” Woohyun asked, and his face broke into an expression of defeat. “I expect you to trust me at the very least.”

“It’s not about trust hyung. It hurts already with what Sunggyu hyung attempted today. I can’t afford to think of losing you too. I may not say this often. It feels really odd to say this. But… hyung I care for you. Don’t leave us please.”

Woohyun looked to him with a sad smile. “I won’t leave Soo.” He ruffled Myungsoo’s hair. “And I know how you felt today. Believe me, I felt as worse as you did today. And I don’t want that to happen again. I will take care of hyung for some time. Just let me do that please. If there’s any problem, I will definitely call you. I… want to talk to him and try to get him to talk. It might not be possible if all of us try together. We need to approach him personally. All I ask is to let me try first. If hyung wants to leave, we will let him leave.”

“Not before he is completely alright. I don’t want a repeat of today happening.” Myungsoo interrupted.

“I don’t think I’ll let him go for a few days at least, until he’s stable and able to take care of himself and defend himself too. So don’t worry. Just give me some time. This matter needs to be dealt with carefully. I can’t afford to drown myself in misery and lament over it forever. I’ll have to try to think like Sunggyu hyung does.”

“You don’t need to be like anyone. You are good as you are.” Sungyeol said from behind. He grabbed Woohyun’s cheeks. “Just take care of yourself and hyung. We are there here around, so please come to us if there’s even the slightest hint of problem.”

“I will.” Woohyun looked determined, and that made Myungsoo proud of him, that he had so quickly and strongly recovered. “It was because of my foolishness that this happened anyway.”

And there went Myungsoo’s joy down the drain. “No hyung, that’s not the case.” He said.

“Don’t tell me that if I hadn’t sung today and tortured him like that, Sunggyu would have still attempted to kill himself.” Woohyun looked at Myungsoo sadly.

“We don’t know.” Sungyeol tried to protest. “It might have come to that point eventually anyhow.”

That did not make anyone happy though, including Sungyeol who shut up after that.

Dongwoo got up from his position, and all of them turned to face him.

“Woohyun ah” Dongwoo said “Can I trust you to make everything alright?” He looked really sad. “Can you bring my Sunggyu hyung back?” Dongwoo was crying, and Myungsoo couldn’t bear seeing him like that, so he went to the older and hugged him, Hoya hugging Dongwoo from behind.

“Hyung don’t cry” Myungsoo requested.

“Tell him I am sorry Hyun ah” Dongwoo continued. “And if he is ready to talk to me, please tell me. I really want to talk to him. I want him back.” He was hiccupping in tears now, and Myungsoo was laughing along with sobbing, because now Hoya had to calm both Dongwoo and Myungsoo, and the situation was funny as sad as it was.

“Let me try” Woohyun said finally.

Myungsoo turned to him, and his heart broke at his friend’s sadness, but he could only hope they could somehow overcome it. “Please don’t let hyung go this time. Make him stay if you can please.” Myungsoo requested. “I will try to help in any way I can.”

“It is not easy.” Woohyun admitted, his eyes wet from unshed tears. He was standing up now, Sungyeol standing next to him.

“I know, but only you can convince him.” Myungsoo said. “I miss him too. We all miss him. Make him stay for some time at least please.”

“You know how hard it is for me right, Myungsoo ah?” Woohyun said.

“Yes. Which is why, we will always be by your side. Whatever help you need, I am ready to provide.” Myungsoo said.

“Whatever satisfies him, will be what I will try to achieve. Go to sleep now all of you. You have work to do tomorrow.” Woohyun said and walked away.

 

The ceiling came into his focus slowly as he opened his eyes. What was going on? Where was he?

Sunggyu turned around and in the dim light of the fireplace that enveloped the room, he noticed Woohyun sitting on the ground while leaning on the wall next to the bed. The younger had his eyes closed, and it was probably night time.

Sunggyu recollected the events that occurred before he fainted. His friends had looked at him with hatred, and that was probably what made him tip into unconsciousness. Thinking of it now made him feel stupid, but he knew once Woohyun would open his eyes and look at him with the same contempt, Sunggyu would probably be a goner again.

But that did not happen.

Woohyun did open his eyes soon before Sunggyu could make any move to escape, and the look which was bestowed on Sunggyu could make even the toughest person melt.

Why was Woohyun looking at him so tenderly? It caught Sunggyu off guard. There was no hint of hatred in the younger’s eyes and Sunggyu was seriously not prepared to be attacked like this.

Woohyun however had no plans to let Sunggyu breathe in peace, it seemed, because the younger was soon sitting on the bed next to him, with a worried expression, and checking Sunggyu’s forehead for fever.

It made Sunggyu shiver. They had already come in contact many times after meeting again, but all of those times Sunggyu had not been in the right mind, and now that he was awake enough, the feeling of wanting to have more of the warmth attacked his consciousness and made him nervous.

He tried his best to control himself, but Woohyun was sitting close to him. His Woohyun was sitting so close to him after so long, and Sunggyu’s mind could not be fucked enough to care about future. He laid his palm over Woohyun’s thigh next to him, and though he could feel the body tensing under him, Woohyun made no move to remove the hand.

Sunggyu looked at Woohyun. “I am sorry.” He said. “I was exhausted and I wanted to say something to all of you, but I was tired I guess.” He looked down.

Woohyun’s hand rested over Sunggyu’s.

This was wrong, but it felt so right. Sunggyu had missed Woohyun so badly, and with how Woohyun had laid out his emotions today, Sunggyu couldn’t stop himself from wanting Woohyun _and_ acting on his ache for him.

It made him feel horrible inside, he was going against everything he had worked so hard to achieve in the past year. This might fuck Woohyun up even more, but Sunggyu was at the limit of his tolerance. He couldn’t. He couldn’t tolerate this shit anymore.

Whether Woohyun hated him or loved him was still an enigma to Sunggyu.

He was lying to himself, he knew Woohyun still loved his selfish existence.

And as if to clear any doubts Sunggyu had in his mind, Woohyun spoke up. “I am sorry. I love you Sunggyu.”

It was like time had stopped, and Sunggyu feared to look into Woohyun’s eyes, but Woohyun brought him to face him by turning his face towards him, and…

Sunggyu did not know who started it. He did not care. All he knew was that he was kissing Woohyun and it felt _so so_ amazing.

They were still at their places, Woohyun’s one hand over Sunggyu’s, resting on his thigh, his other hand holding Sunggyu’s chin.

Sunggyu wanted more, he had lost control of his self, and he knew he would regret this later, but he just couldn’t stop. He was too far lost that he tried to let his tongue enter Woohyun’s mouth, but Woohyun pushed him away gently.

It hurt him, but Sunggyu tried to not let it show.

“Why did you do that?” Woohyun asked. The younger was upset, his eyes accused Sunggyu of a making a grave mistake.

It was enough for Sunggyu to realize what mistake he had made.

“Was it that bad? Did I hurt you that much? That you had no option but to do that to yourself…” Woohyun said sadly.

The younger was talking of Sunggyu’s attempt to kill himself, and yes, Sunggyu felt really stupid now. Had he been in Woohyun’s shoes, he would have felt really terrible if Woohyun had attempted something like that. “I am sorry.” Sunggyu said. “It was a thing that happened in the heat of the moment.”

“No it wasn’t. You are not like that, I know. Why are you lying?”

And yes, Sunggyu knew he wouldn’t have believed it if someone told him yesterday that he would attempt to take his own life today, but now it seemed reasonable. His mind had still not recovered from having to see Woohyun sing so desperately. And he could never forgive himself for hurting Woohyun.

It was known to Sunggyu how much he must have hurt the younger, but seeing the proof of that was a different experience altogether, and it had driven him to the edge.

“I am not. At that time, it felt like…”

“Like what?” Woohyun asked.

But Sunggyu couldn’t articulate his thoughts. Instead he was trying to stop his inner sorrow from showing. He wasn’t successful. When his cheeks felt wet, he knew he was crying. His eyes were burning now and his head started hurting again with dark thoughts clouding his mind. How was he supposed to live without seeing Woohyun for his whole life? That was what he was going to do. He was going to leave this place finally, and never return again. This place was going to be dead for him soon.

“Sunggyu” Woohyun was looking at him with sadder eyes, and Sunggyu’s hate for himself grew.

“Take care.” Sunggyu pecked on Woohyun’s forehead, and withdrew. “Goodbye Woohyun. Take care of everyone including yourself.”

And then a scuffle started.

Woohyun was on top of Sunggyu, pinning him to the ground, as Sunggyu had tried to escape and had almost reached the door before the younger tackled him.

It hurt a lot, since Sunggyu was weak, felt weak, both physically and mentally, but he was trained to overcome weakness, and he wasn’t going to give up, especially, when his opponent had a weak point too.

Woohyun was trying his best to avoid hurting Sunggyu’s abdomen where he had been hurt yesterday, and Sunggyu had to take advantage of it. He aimed a punch at Woohyun’s stomach, and when there was enough distance between them, he slipped from under the younger, and ran to the door.

Of course, Woohyun wasn’t a loser by any regards. He was the head of a guard team after all. The younger crawled to him, holding Sunggyu’s legs and not letting him go.

Sunggyu resorted to petty tactics like stomping on Woohyun’s hand which was holding him, with his uncaptured leg, but then Woohyun captured both of the legs.

And apparently Sunggyu was very weak, because he was already really exhausted, and soon he was in Woohyun’s arms, being carried to the bed.

He was expecting to be cuffed to the bed again, but that did not happen.

Woohyun made him lean on the headboard, and sat on his lap. “Sunggyu”

“Let me leave. I am healed now. You said you would let me go after I heal.” Sunggyu reasoned.

“Change of plans.” Woohyun was looking straight at him, his gaze unwavering and Sunggyu was intimidated by the dominating aura coming from the usually understanding Woohyun.

“You can’t break a promise.” Sunggyu said, hoping to convince Woohyun.

But he couldn’t even convince himself to try harder, because Woohyun leaned closer and closer soon until there was almost no distance between them and wait no… this couldn’t happen again.

Sunggyu pushed Woohyun away. “I don’t want this. Let me go please.” He pleaded.

Woohyun looked really hurt by that, and Sunggyu wanted to take back his words, but before that the younger spoke. “Okay. I won’t do anything to you. Just stay here. I am not letting you go anywhere.” Woohyun then proceeded to lock his legs around Sunggyu’s waist, and leaned over his shoulder, resting his face there.

It would be difficult for Sunggyu to get out of this, and he did not really want to get out, because the whole arrangement was calming him more than anything else could have. Maybe he should have accepted the kiss, he would have felt even better.

Woohyun’s breath tickled his neck, and Sunggyu allowed himself some moment to rest, think and plan.

“I need to go to the loo.” He said, after a while.

Woohyun pulled himself back and looked at Sunggyu sceptically, and Sunggyu was trying his best to not seem suspicious. “I’ll accompany you.” The younger said.

“Alright.” Sunggyu said nonchalantly.

“If you try to escape, I am not going to listen to you anymore, and do whatever I want.” Woohyun looked upset, and Sunggyu would have done anything he could to not break Woohyun’s trust, but he was a bastard.

“Okay.”

“I am not joking.” Woohyun warned. He spoke with authority, and it was the first time Sunggyu was seeing him like this. It was also the first time Sunggyu had been interacting with ‘Woohyun- the head guard’ also, so he had to expect some changes. There was still the pout on Woohyun’s face, but the eyes held a gaze that would make anyone submit.

Not Sunggyu though. When they were done with their business, and were returning back to the house, Sunggyu took a chance and pretended to be hurting somewhere. While Woohyun’s hold on him loosened so as to check Sunggyu for injuries since the sun had just risen and there was still not enough light around to look properly, Sunggyu pushed him away and made a dash to escape.

What followed was some minutes of chase, and when Sunggyu thought he had managed to escape, something dashed at him from the side.

That something was Hoya, and before Sunggyu could curse at him for blocking his escape, Woohyun found him and was dragging him to back to his house.

Sunggyu did not go back willingly, he tried hard to escape, but Woohyun was taking it seriously now apparently, because Sunggyu couldn’t move away at all, until he was inside the house.

He could hear the click of the main door being locked behind Woohyun, and whatever was coming his way was not good, he supposed.

The younger’s face was hidden from him, and Sunggyu wondered if he should try getting out through the window, but the younger said, “Don’t you dare again!” It was a clear warning, and something in his voice made Sunggyu scared.

Woohyun turned to him soon after adjusting the flames in the fireplace.

The sight of the younger however ruined Sunggyu.

Woohyun was clutching his hair in frustration and the look of agony directed at him made Sunggyu devastated. “Why do you hate me so much?” Woohyun let out finally.

Sunggyu couldn’t listen to a repeat of what happened the night before. But he was rooted to his spot of course, Woohyun’s furious and distressed gaze boring holes on him.

“What wrong did I do? Was my love not enough? Did you even like me ever? Or was that all a pretence so you could use me? Did you pretend to care for me only to use and throw me away?”

It tore him, it tore Sunggyu from sanity, being accused of using Woohyun, but that’s what he deserved probably. He kept mum.

“You think I want to love you? I want to hate you so much. But this” Woohyun pointed to his chest. “My heart doesn’t allow me to hate you. It belongs to you idiot. I tried so hard to comfort myself, to tell myself that it was alright, but it isn’t. It is hell living like that. Do you know how much I suffered? Yet you are the one trying to give up… trying to end yourself… You want to leave. But how do I trust you to not do that again huh? How do I trust you will not do that to yourself again if I let you leave?”

“I won’t.” Sunggyu said, interrupting him. “I won’t do that again. Just let me go.”

“How do I trust you?” Woohyun laughed hollowly. “You don’t trust me and expect me to trust you. Is this a joke?”

“No it isn’t. And I am here in front of you alive after a year. I promise not to do that thing again. So please let me leave.”

“It’s not that easy.” Woohyun seemed to think for a while. “I can’t let you go.”

Sunggyu did not have any answer to that.

“Can’t you stay back? I will never ask you any questions. We won’t ask you any questions. I won’t ask you to be with me either. Just stay in my sight.”

The offer was tempting and Sunggyu could accept it. But could he?

“The others worry for you too. Don’t you care for them at least, if not for me? Sungyeol, Myungsoo and Sungjong went searching for you for a whole three months some time ago.”

Sunggyu knew of that. He had almost been caught by the maknaes once.

“Hoya has been trying to use his connections all over to get to you. Dongwoo hyung told me to tell you that he was sorry for today. He wants to talk to you. That girl lied to you for a reason. She’s Dongwoo’s friend if you know that, and she did the right thing by trying to bring you back. Who knows if anyone could have even found you? She took the chance she got. Dongwoo was really worried. We do hate you for leaving, but it’s not the hate that you believe. Everyone cares for you. Sungjong’s family misses you. My mom, dad miss you too. Boohyun hyung wants to punch you because I did not talk to him for a long time because of you. But he still thinks of you as a friend, and worries for you. The other guards ask about you too, even people you have talked to only a few times… This place misses you hyung.”

What Woohyun said, lifted the burning feeling Sunggyu had been having, and it felt like a huge pain was lifted off his chest. Could Sunggyu return and try to settle here again? He could actually. What personal mission he had left the village for, was accomplished. He did not have anything binding him outside anymore. Did he deserve the chance though?

Woohyun moved closer to him, and came to a stop when he was very close. “I miss you Sunggyu.” Woohyun said, wetness in his eyes, and lips quivering.

Sunggyu almost reconsidered his decision.

“Please stay”

It was very difficult to not accept the proposal. There was nothing that was holding back Sunggyu anymore. He could return to his content life he lived earlier. Even if not lovers, he could have Woohyun as his friend, and that was better than not being close to Woohyun at all. He could return to the place which held so many memories to him. The people in this place meant a lot to him. It had been devastating to let go. To return would give him a lot of happiness.

But was it a feasible decision?

Would the people here accept Sunggyu again? They might agree to have him around, and even if they get accustomed to his presence after a while, there was no guarantee that their feelings for him had not changed. Sunggyu still loved them, but did they love him back? It was unreasonable to doubt their love when it was apparent from what Woohyun had said that his friends still cared for him, but they would definitely not trust him anymore. He had broken their trust.

Was Sunggyu strong enough to experience the crumbling of his friendships? It would rather be better to live a lonely life elsewhere and not let his friends experience the same ordeal.

And also Woohyun wasn’t supposed to have to suffer anymore. Sunggyu would take being close to Woohyun as a choice rather than being away from him any day, but Woohyun deserved happiness, and the Sunggyu one year ago would have been able to provide the younger that, but in the current circumstances, Sunggyu couldn’t see the two of them being happy together anytime in the future.

Woohyun was still waiting for an answer, his eyes conveying to Sunggyu his request for Sunggyu to stay, and Sunggyu had to quash that hope.

“I am leaving. Now. That’s my final decision.”

“Dongwoo hyung wants to talk to you.”

“Tell him I am sorry and that I wish the best for him.”

“That’s not nice.” Woohyun countered.

Sunggyu turned away from him showing his back to him. “I don’t intend to be nice.”

A pair of arms hugged him from behind, and Sunggyu was glad Woohyun couldn’t see his face, because it was taking him a lot of self-control to keep his emotions from showing. “You are not going anywhere.” Woohyun insisted, burying his nose into Sunggyu’s collarbone.

The hot breath on his skin bothered Sunggyu a lot, since his body couldn’t reject Woohyun at all, and he was itching to have more of the younger, to the extent that he was curling his fists in restraint to not pounce on Woohyun.

“You are staying here.” Woohyun said, as if that was what was going to happen.

Sunggyu wasn’t going to allow to let that happen though. Taking off Woohyun’s hands from around him, he turned to the younger with determination. “If you have any last words to say to me, you may.”

“Yes. I do have to ask something.” Woohyun looked at him in disapproval.

Sunggyu wondered what mind games Woohyun had planned, because Sunggyu had been planning to escape by convincing Woohyun to let him go. Physical fight was something he wanted to avoid. But with the way Woohyun’s brows furrowed in concentration, it did not look like it would be easy to escape.

“Who’s your lover?”

Wh-what? “What do you mean?” Sunggyu was looking at him, his mouth open. This was not what he expected to discuss with Woohyun last before he left. And what did Woohyun mean by ‘lover’?

“Of course you left this place for something, for someone. That someone must be special right?” Woohyun had the look of sorrow in his eyes.

“If this is your way to know my reason for leaving, I am sorry to say I am not going to talk about it.” Sunggyu tried to put an end to the topic. He was seriously considering running away again, hoping no one came in the way of his escape plan this time, but Woohyun apparently was not satisfied with the end of the topic.

“I am not asking for the reason. I just want to know what kind of partner you are with now. It can help me in knowing where I lacked.”

The hurt dripping out of Woohyun’s voice was not pleasant at all, and Sunggyu wanted to hug him, comfort him and love him so that Woohyun would never doubt himself, but he couldn’t do that. It frustrated him. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Why? Are they that special? You want to keep them hidden from me?”

“How did you even come to the conclusion that I have someone special?” Sunggyu was really disappointed at Woohyun’s line of thinking. He wanted to retort with how Woohyun was with Mijoo now, but that would complicate the matter further, so he held it back.

“Why would you leave me then? Was I not enough? Or am I that undesirable?” Woohyun asked, agitated.

Sunggyu felt ridiculous that they were talking about Woohyun’s desirability. It actually made him snort. “Look who’s talking about being undesirable- ‘Mr I have girls and guys alike pining after me’ Do you even think before you speak?”

“I do.” Woohyun retorted furious. The younger looked really cute offended like that, and it was like they were back to their old silly fights, except this wasn’t a silly fight. “If I am not undesirable, why would you leave me?” Woohyun explained.

Sunggyu couldn’t stop himself anymore. “God, what was that girl’s name? Mijoo? Yeah! You have a thing with her, probably fuck her on a daily basis, and here you are telling me you are undesirable? If anything, I am undesirable because you could forget me that easily!”

Woohyun looked at a loss of words at that, and that stung Sunggyu because it probably meant Woohyun had a thing for the girl or something, but then Woohyun looked at him with a guilty expression, and Sunggyu was even more horrified at the thoughts of Woohyun having done even more intimate things with a lot of people, but then Woohyun clarified. “I don’t.”

“Huh?”

There was a hint of pink on Woohyun’s cheeks and it was making Sunggyu really weak because he couldn’t stand a shy Woohyun. Shy Woohyun deserved to be hugged and loved, but then Woohyun explained himself which confused Sunggyu. “I did not have a thing with anyone after you left. I don’t fuck her or anyone on a daily basis like you probably think. She liked me and I tried to make it work out, but it did not go far. I was not really intimate with her.”

That kind of made Sunggyu happy for some reasons, and he wanted to scold himself for being happy at Woohyun getting no action from anyone, but the younger had to go one step further and say-

“It’s funny how you think you are undesirable because I couldn’t think of anyone else even after you left me. I had to think of you to even pleasure myself.”

Woohyun was completely red and Sunggyu wanted to make him shut up because he was spouting illegal things now, and the mental images Sunggyu had in his mind was enough torture, but he couldn’t even speak, because he was blushing as much as Woohyun was.

“I need you Sunggyu.” Woohyun moved closer to him, caging him, holding his arms, and bridging the gap between them.

The friction between their bodies as they touched made Sunggyu’s breath hitch. Woohyun’s clothed member touched his, and the younger was purposefully rubbing himself against Sunggyu, moving his hips, grinding against him.

“Sunggyu” Woohyun called out, and it was ridiculous that Woohyun was trying to lure him this way, as if he was trying every possible way he could think of to make Sunggyu stay back.

Was Sunggyu easy enough to agree to stay just so he could have Woohyun for himself? If the way he was responding to Woohyun’s advances were anything to go by, Sunggyu was too far gone. He couldn’t even breathe properly because he was too overcome by the sensation of having Woohyun against him. It had been a long time since he had touched Woohyun, and he wanted more already.

But if this was the way Sunggyu could be baited, then Sunggyu would not even have left in the first place. He very well knew what he had been leaving behind back then.

Trying to stop a moan from slipping out of his mouth, he spoke, “I am leaving Woohyun, if you have anything to say-”

The words were taken away from him when he was pushed to the adjacent wall and as his lips were sealed with another pair, a pair he loved and adored. Woohyun was properly kissing him, their noses sliding against each other, breaths mingling, and hands roaming over the other’s body.

Sunggyu kissed him back. That was an involuntary response from him, but he did not even protest when Woohyun slipped his tongue inside his mouth. Woohyun’s body always did things to him, not merely because the younger was hot; but the fact that it was Woohyun doing things to him, made Sunggyu all worked up.

He couldn’t stop the little sounds that slipped him, as he responded to the younger’s kiss excitedly. Their tongues played with each other, saliva connecting in a string as they separated for breath, and Sunggyu was not satisfied. He wanted more. His mind was muddled and he felt like a loser for giving in so easily, but just kissing was alright he decided. They both wanted it, if the eagerness with which Woohyun’s hand roamed over Sunggyu’s body was anything to go by, and Sunggyu let himself have this pleasure for one last time.

Woohyun came back to him soon and they pulled each other closer, joining their mouths again and exploring each other. If anyone would see them like this now, it would look like two zoms eating each other out, they were being that desperate and disgusting. A laugh came to Sunggyu at the thought, and he looked up to see Woohyun gazing at him with an endearing smile.

As much as the smile made him feel like it was spring in the middle of winter, it reminded him he had to leave. So as Woohyun placed his lips over Sunggyu’s again, Sunggyu decided to gently push him away, but suddenly there was a hand over his crotch too, and he had to really stop this, so he pushed away Woohyun roughly.

The younger looked hurt at that, but Sunggyu was done now. They were done with their goodbyes, and he might not get a better chance. He dashed to the exit, but he had underestimated Woohyun because the younger was on his case even before Sunggyu had managed to unlock the house door and get out.

The door was open and Sunggyu could leave, but Woohyun was blocking his way. A fight started on the scene, and there was no way to decide the winner except to engage in the fight.

They stared at each other, each willing the other to submit, to bow down to their wishes, but neither obliging.

Five minutes later, Sunggyu’s ribs were paining a little with the strain on his injuries from the fight, and he had even received two not so strong punches, landing about four punches on Woohyun himself too.

They were still not seriously fighting each other if the weak punches were anything to go by, and Sunggyu needed to fast come up with an alternative escape plan.

While he was thinking of that, Woohyun had him pinned to the wall inside his house, right opposite to the front door.

Things were not looking good, and things became even worse as suddenly there was a commotion from the door, and the door burst open fully; a long spear now right behind Woohyun, aiming for his head.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you find this very lengthy to read? i have been writing this since the past two months, so half of it is already written and for the first few chapters only editing was needed to be done, which is why I have been able to upload lengthy chapters daily, but I have been wondering if it’s too much to read so much at once. the future updates might not be as frequent. I am not still sure of it. but for now, don’t strain your eyes reading and keep on taking breaks so that it doesn’t damage your vision! ^^


	6. 05. pain

 

 

 

Something was wrong, something was definitely wrong, Woohyun could guess that from the expression of horror on Sunggyu’s face.

The older was looking at something behind Woohyun and Woohyun turned around, hiding Sunggyu behind him.

He was not prepared to have a spear aim right between his eyes, by a middle aged lady nonetheless.

The lady was surrounded by Dongwoo, Hoya, Sungyeol, Myungsoo and Sungjong, all aiming their own weapons at her.

She seemed to be unfazed though, furiously looking at Woohyun, as if her life was not in the hands of the five people who surrounded her, and as if she was expecting that she could win against so many people.

“Drop your weapons” Dongwoo warned her.                    

But she did not pay him any heed, continuing to stare at Woohyun angrily.

She seemed familiar, but Woohyun couldn’t recollect having met her before. Anyway he had to handle the situation calmly or he was going to die. Though before he could tell her to drop the spear if she did not want to die, Sunggyu spoke up from behind him.

“Why are you here?” Sunggyu seemed really surprised, but the way he spoke to her indicated that the older knew her.

“To take you back.” The lady replied.

Woohyun took his time to study her. She looked beautiful for her age, looked like a common villager and unlike someone who was used to fights. She was probably Woohyun’s mom’s age, and it confused him why such a lady was here out of nowhere aiming to hurt him, and she knew Sunggyu too. Her reply to Sunggyu brought Woohyun to his senses though. “He’s not going anywhere.” Woohyun declared.

The lady laughed. “That’s what these kiddos told me too.” She pointed at Woohyun’s friends around her. “And I say he’s coming back with me.”

“Drop your weapon or I will kill you.” Sungyeol warned.

“You could have killed me long ago right when I entered this place. Why wait for so long?” She replied.

“We were waiting to know if you had any explanation for intruding in our village. Now that you are aiming to hurt our head guard, we can’t let you do that.” Hoya explained.

“Head guard huh? Interesting.” She said, her eyes crinkling.

Sunggyu tried to come to the front, but Woohyun forced him to stay behind him. “You are not going anywhere.” He warned.

“I am.” Sunggyu replied, and tried to come to the front again. Woohyun of course, tried to stop that, and that apparently made the lady furious, because the spear was now really close to piercing Woohyun’s skin.

Sunggyu probably noticed that, because the older stopped trying to escape, and was trying to reason out his way.

“Let us go peacefully. We won’t disturb you.” Sunggyu said.

So the lady was Sunggyu’s companion? Okay, whatever. But Woohyun was not really going to let go of Sunggyu. “No.” He replied.

It all happened in quick motion, the lady pulling back her spear to attack Woohyun with force, Sunggyu pushing Woohyun behind him to shield him, Woohyun’s friends all aiming to attack the lady, and Sunggyu shouting ‘Eomma no!’ which made everyone stop in their places.

She was Sunggyu’s mother???! That came as a shock to Woohyun and all his friends in the room too, because they had their weapons away from her now, and were looking incredulously at Sunggyu and the lady who was supposedly his mother.

Woohyun wanted to scold his team for letting down their guard, but he was surprised too, so he only held Sunggyu by his waist from behind preventing him from escaping, and waited for someone to give explanations.

No one knew anything about Sunggyu having a mother, so everyone was shocked.

Sungyeol spoke up. “She is your mother?”

The lady was looking at all of them curiously, especially at Woohyun.

Woohyun felt conscious under her gaze because it seemed like she was scrutinizing him and his hands that rested around Sunggyu’s waist. She was glaring at Sunggyu too, and Woohyun could feel the tension from Sunggyu’s body as he was pressed to Sunggyu’s back.

“You have a lot of explaining to do dear.” The lady said to Sunggyu.

Sunggyu did not reply to that, and turned to Sungyeol. “Yes she is my mother, and I would appreciate it if you allow me and her to leave peacefully. She came here to search for me, and we don’t have any intention to harm any people here” Woohyun snorted at that. “So let us leave.”

“Hyung you are not going anywhere.” Sungjong said.

“Yes, we can’t have a repeat of yesterday night’s incident. You may hate us, but we don’t want you to be hurt.” Myungsoo added.

“I have already assured Woohyun that won’t be happening again. I will try my best to not let it happen again.” Sunggyu replied.

“What happened yesterday?” Sunggyu’s mother interrupted, and her gaze fell on the bandages on Sunggyu’s body, and to the bigger visible injury bandaged on his arm. “Which of you did this?” She became even more furious.

Woohyun was scared of her now because she looked ready to kill, and her gaze landed on Woohyun. Great.

“It must be you. These people seem to not want my baby to hurt. You are the only one who was attacking him when I entered here. What are your intentions?” She asked Woohyun.

“I want him to stay here. You can stay with him if you want to. We can arrange accommodations for you too ma’am.” Woohyun replied.

“But he doesn’t want to stay here. Hasn’t he made that clear? What good would it do to force him? I understand this is the place he’s been living all his life, but Gyu already told me that he doesn’t have anything or anyone in the village he cares for especially, to make him stay back. Didn’t you say that son?” She looked at Sunggyu.

Sunggyu answered with a ‘yes’ and Woohyun felt betrayed. He found a mirror of his emotions reflecting from his team members’ faces, and he loosened the hold he had on Sunggyu’s waist. Sunggyu’s mother would definitely care for Sunggyu right? So they did not have to worry for the older anymore. Besides, Sunggyu himself affirmed he cared for no one here, so who were they to want him to stay back?

“Why do you care for him anyway?” The lady asked.

Woohyun let go of his hold on Sunggyu and stepped beside the older. The lady had her spear in her hand still, but she wasn’t threatening to attack with it anymore, and it did not seem like she would attack now that Sunggyu had defended Woohyun once. “Alright. You can leave then.” Woohyun conceded.

His team members looked dumbfounded at him at that, but Woohyun did not see the merit in holding back Sunggyu anymore. It would hurt him, it hurt him, but when Sunggyu had no desire to reciprocate Woohyun’s feelings, when the older had no desire to stay with them, it wouldn’t do good to force the older to do that. Woohyun had to learn to let go despite of the pain, and so did the others. Woohyun’s main concern had been Sunggyu’s safety, and when a solution was in front of him for that, he could not hold the older back any longer. Woohyun’s heart would heal, he had a lifetime to heal. It would be difficult, but he had to respect Sunggyu’s wishes.

“May I know your name ma’am?” Woohyun asked her.

“I am Kim Kyungran.” She replied.

“Okay Kyungran sshi. I am sorry for all the trouble you had to face here, just because you wanted your son back. You could have requested help from our guards near the walls, but you intruded the village, and that is not appreciated. But since you haven’t hurt anyone I presume” Woohyun looked to his team for confirmation and they nodded in agreement, “You are free to leave along with your son. I am Nam Woohyun, the head guard of the sixteenth team of Gwangju settlement. I expect that you will take care of Sunggyu. That’s what our concern was, and since he has someone to look after him, I don’t feel there is a need to hold him back. What do you think?” Woohyun looked at his team members.

All of them looked reluctant, and Dongwoo looked like he was about to cry. They were looking at Sunggyu, and Woohyun did not know what Sunggyu was doing, he did not look at the older. He only hoped the impeding separation again was not breaking Sunggyu as much as it was breaking Woohyun, because Woohyun felt like Sunggyu still cared for him, cared for them. And if Sunggyu was feeling even half of the pain Woohyun was, then it would be hard for Sunggyu to leave too.

His friends finally all gave their approval, Dongwoo and Sungjong agreeing last of all, and Woohyun turned to Sunggyu to bid him goodbye.

Sunggyu did not turn to look at him though. The older was staring straight ahead like a statue.

Woohyun did not know what to do, if he should say one last goodbye. They had already sealed a goodbye earlier, though then Woohyun was hoping it was not one. Now words did not seem necessary. It might hurt them more.

So he turned to Sunggyu’s mother. But she was looking at Dongwoo, and was very close to the oldest member of the sixteenth guard team. “Do you care for Sunggyu? What are you to Sunggyu? Are you his friends?” She asked Dongwoo.

Hoya answered for him. “Yes.”

She seemed surprised at the answer.

Sunggyu moved, away from Woohyun, and stood next to his mom. His face was impassive but his voice came out deep and cracked as he said, “Let’s leave eomma”

Kyungran however seemed to be in a confused state. “What are you to him?”

Woohyun was staring at his shoes, so when the question came he did not think much of it, but when utter silence was the response to the question, he looked up to see that the question was directed at him.

“Are you Sunggyu’s friend too?” She asked.

Sunggyu, beside her, was pulling her by her arm, making her move, but she resisted it, staring at Woohyun for an answer.

“I don’t know.” Woohyun replied honestly.

“Why do you have my husband’s locket on yourself?” She asked further.

Woohyun was out of words. What was he supposed to answer to that? Sunggyu gave it to him? But why? It was a wonder she had noticed the locket since it was hidden inside his t-shirt, but it must have showed sometime for her to notice. Woohyun hoped Sunggyu helped him evade the question, but the older looked equally stunned.

“Did you steal it?” She asked.

And Woohyun wanted to laugh at that, but he held it back. “No” He replied.

“Then how do you have it?”

“Sunggyu hyung gave it to him” Hoya answered for Woohyun.

“Why?” She asked.

Sunggyu hugged her from the side. “Please let’s leave. I will explain you about this later when we are out. Let’s go now?” He tried to convince her.

“No. You are not going to reveal anything to me dear, I know. If that was the case, you wouldn’t have hidden from your mom that you had people who cared for you here.” She looked bitter, and Woohyun could understand her. It was the same feeling he had when he felt like Sunggyu didn’t trust him with his issues and that stung.

“I am sorry.” Sunggyu said. “I will try to explain to you as much as I can. If we stay here anymore, it will get to difficult to leave.” He requested.

But it seemed like she wasn’t having any of his excuses. “Why do you have it?” Kyungran asked Woohyun again. “I don’t expect him to answer me now.” She pointed to Sunggyu. “You better not lie. Why did he give that to you?”

“He gave it to me as a present.” Woohyun replied.

She looked horrified at that answer. “As a present? That is a thing which holds memories for my family, and he gave it to some random person as a present?”

Being called a random person made Woohyun angry, and it made him even angrier that it was the truth. He took off the necklace, and handed it to her. “And the random person is returning it to you. I am sure Sunggyu hyung did not mean to disrespect it, but I also wouldn’t want to keep away from you something of great importance.”

Kyungran looked satisfied at that. She placed the necklace around Sunggyu’s neck, and Sunggyu… was glaring at Woohyun.

Sunggyu’s eyes were narrowing till they disappeared into slits, and it turned into an expression Woohyun had always feared. It was the expression Sunggyu had on his face when they were teenagers and Woohyun would throw some tantrum and Sunggyu would act all brotherly and scold him. It was the expression Sunggyu had on his face when he would be disappointed at Woohyun for having an argument with his parents for stupid reasons. It was the expression Sunggyu had on his face when Woohyun would lose a match while training due to silly mistakes.

Woohyun feared that expression for a valid reason. Nothing good came out of it. Usually it meant Sunggyu would nag at him, hit him and not talk to him for days. But now… he had no idea, because Sunggyu was not going to do either of those even if he weren’t mad at Woohyun.

His received his answer in the form of a grumpy Sunggyu marching to him, removing the necklace from his own neck, and placing it around Woohyun’s. The older returned to his place and pouted at his mom. “Eomma please. Don’t interfere in all of this.”

Woohyun would have found the sight cute but he also noticed how Sunggyu was clenching his fists in anger.

Kyungran did not seem to be happy at the outcome and Woohyun was also not happy at receiving the necklace back. He was not going to keep away an important thing from anyone. It was just an ornament. And though it meant a lot to Woohyun- it kind of represented Sunggyu’s feelings towards him and assured him sometimes that Sunggyu may have cared for him too in the past, but now it seemed stupid. Sunggyu was so insistent on staying away from him, that it did not make sense for Woohyun to hold onto something of the older.

“I don’t want it.” Woohyun took off the necklace again. “There is no reason for me to keep it.”

“I don’t want it back.” Sunggyu said, not pleased at all.

“Then Kyungran sshi would appreciate it.” Woohyun gave it to Sunggyu’s mom.

She accepted it while looking at Sunggyu curiously. “I need to know what’s going on Sunggyu. I understand you might not want to confide in me since I haven’t been with you for a long time, but I would like to know. Why do you hide things from me?” She looked hurt, and Woohyun was reminded of his mom. He didn’t want to make Kyungran sadder. It was better they left soon.

“I think it is better you have that discussion once you reach to a place of safety, Kyungran sshi.” Woohyun suggested.

“This place seems safe enough to me.” She replied.

Dongwoo spoke up, “I am sorry to interrupt but” He looked at Woohyun. “I think it would be better that we wait outside till Kyungran sshi and Sunggyu sshi sort out the matter. We are not needed here I guess.”

“Yes” Woohyun agreed. “This is my place. You can stay here to discuss whatever you have to since we are going nowhere with this. We will be outside.” He conveyed to Kyungran.

“I want _you_ to stay here. Can you do that? Or do you have to be somewhere?” She addressed Woohyun.

Woohyun could have told her he had guard duty. He did, in fact, have work to do, but since he was the head guard, he was allowed to register his work leaves at the end of the day too, so he could take a leave for the day without informing beforehand. So he could also stay here. But Sunggyu wanted to leave the place already, that was apparent from his behaviour. And Woohyun did not want to upset the older.

“Please. I assure you I won’t take much of your time.” Kyungran requested bowing to him, and Woohyun couldn’t say no to that.

“Okay.” He gestured the others to leave, and they did, and soon enough it was only the three of them in the house.

Kyungran sat on the couch, Sunggyu was standing next to her and Woohyun sat on his bed.

“Eomma what are you doing? Can you stop this? It is embarrassing me. I am not a kid. I am twenty eight years old, why are you interfering in my stuff?” Sunggyu obviously was speaking all of this in a low voice, but Woohyun could hear them well.

“And I still don’t know much about you? You lied to me. How am I supposed to believe you?” She argued.

“So you will believe what he says?” Sunggyu raised his voice and pointed at Woohyun.

“I will decide that after I listen to him.” She said, and ended the discussion, facing Woohyun.

Sunggyu turned his head away from them, huffing angrily, and Woohyun for once was glad that Sunggyu was doing something other than crying or being sad, even if it was because the older was being childish with his mother. It was the first time he had seen Sunggyu being childish in front of a mother figure, since Sunggyu respected Sungjong’s mother and always tried to obey her, that being the reason he rarely had arguments with her. But now seeing him quarrelling with his mom, made Woohyun chuckle.

“So Nam Woohyun” Kyungran started the interrogation. “I trust you would answer all my questions truthfully.”

Woohyun could feel Sunggyu’s glare on him. He tried to ignore that and focus on Kyungran. “I can’t assure you I will be answering all of your questions, but I won’t lie in my answers.”

“Fair enough.”

“But before that, I would like to know stuff about you too.” Woohyun said, before she could bombard him with questions. Woohyun had agreed to answer to her questions partly because she seemed like she really cared for Sunggyu and keeping her in the dark regarding Sunggyu’s life wasn’t going to help her in protecting Sunggyu. But Woohyun was also curious about where she had been all these years, because he was sure no one had talked about Sunggyu having a mom. Neither had Sunggyu or his dad brought her up any time.

“No.” Sunggyu said.

“I am not asking you anything.” Woohyun said back to him.

Sunggyu glared at him, and Woohyun almost shrunk back with the intensity of the gaze, but Kyungran motioned him to ask what he wanted.

“Where were you all these years? We never knew Sunggyu had a mother.” He said.

Kyungran looked sad. “I can’t give you the actual answer, but I would say that there were certain circumstances that kept me away. If I had the chance, I would have stayed with my family. But the conditions then did not allow me to do that. And if you are wondering why neither Sunggyu nor his father told even their close ones here about me, it may be due to the fact that they have a tendency to hide their pains from others, if you have noticed.”

Woohyun swallowed back the lump in his throat at that. He very well knew how Sunggyu hid things from him, having experienced that already, and now he realized, there must be so many other things Sunggyu had hidden from him. When Sunggyu having a mother- such an important detail, was hidden from Woohyun, there could be many more secrets Sunggyu had. And that made Woohyun feel like a loser of a friend.

All the while he had been together with Sunggyu, he had always believed that Sunggyu always came to Woohyun whenever he needed comfort, and that Woohyun was successful in making Sunggyu forget his loneliness.

But now, all of it seemed like a lie.

“I know.” Woohyun said.

“I can’t reveal any more than that, it would threaten our lives. And I would appreciate it if you keep this matter to yourself and your guard team. Please don’t reveal anything about me or Sunggyu being here, or any more details, to anyone else.”

That intrigued Woohyun and he really wanted to know what was going on but he couldn’t ask for more. He wouldn’t be answered. “Okay. I guess hyung wouldn’t want me to know anything either.”

“Good. I would like to know if there are people here who care for Sunggyu. Because my son told me that he had no ties with this village anymore.” She said.

“He’s right.” Kyungran looked astonished at his answer. Woohyun continued. “He tried to cut off all ties with this place before leaving. But he still has people who worry about him here. Dongwoo, Hoya, Sungyeol, Myungsoo and Sungjong, the people who were there here before, and me, we all used to be friends. Dongwoo, the one whom you asked whether he was Sunggyu’s friend, was Sunggyu’s first friend. Sungjong, the youngest one is Sunggyu’s neighbour, and his family was quite close to Sunggyu too. Sunggyu also spent some time at my place, so my parents and brother care for him too. And the older guards have been checking up on Sunggyu since his childhood and more particularly since uncle passed away. So Sunggyu saying that no one cares for him here is a lie.” Woohyun looked at Sunggyu with accusing eyes.

“That’s a lot of information, and I think that’s enough. We are leaving now.” Sunggyu said.

“You keep quiet.” Kyungran glared at her son, and Sunggyu looked scared. Woohyun liked Sunggyu’s mom. “Were you his closest friend here?” Kyungran asked Woohyun further, and Woohyun was not sure he liked her anymore, because he did not know what to answer.

“No, that’s Dongwoo hyung.” Woohyun answered finally. Both mother and son looked at him surprised, and Woohyun wondered if he had answered with a joke or something accidentally.

“Are you sure?” Kyungran was still surprised.

“Yes. Like I said he was Sunggyu hyung’s first friend, and they know much more about each other than others know about them.” Woohyun replied.

“Then what are you?”

“Huh?”

“What are you to Sunggyu?”

Woohyun unconsciously bit his lips and looked down. What was he to answer? He was sure she wanted an answer that was something other than a ‘friend’, but how was he supposed to reply to her that the two of them used each other for pleasure too besides being friends? That their relationship had been slightly different compared to simple friendship? He was regretting agreeing to answer her questions, and maybe he could say he refused to answer it, but that would seem even more suspicious.

Sunggyu wasn’t helping either because the older looked like he was waiting for Woohyun’s answer too, and that made Woohyun really nervous.

“I am his friend.” Woohyun said finally.

“Then why did _you_ have the necklace specifically Woohyun sshi, and not any of the others?” Kyungran insisted on knowing the truth.

Woohyun was out of words. He did not know what to reply. His friends knew about the nature of their relationship, even their siblings knew. Woohyun’s parents however only believed that the two had some kind of feelings for each other. They never knew that Sunggyu and Woohyun had a physical relationship with each other, and the two knew how to hide it well too.

But now Woohyun was sure he would stutter in front of Kyungran. What lie could he spew? Besides, he had assured he would not lie to her.

“I used to have a crush on hyung.” He hesitatingly said. That was not a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. There were rarely any homophobic people in this time and age, so Woohyun hoped Sunggyu’s mom was not one of them. He did not look at Sunggyu’s face because he was embarrassed of what he had said already.

“Oh.” Kyungran seemed to be thinking, and the way she was studying Woohyun made him feel more conscious of himself. She turned to Sunggyu then, “Did you know about that?”

Woohyun looked to Sunggyu slowly and was surprised to find that Sunggyu was blushing. Woohyun wanted to laugh because what was this ridiculous situation he had gotten himself into? Sunggyu was supposed to already leave by now, the older was supposed to be out of Woohyun’s life forever; instead here they were discussing his and Sunggyu’s relationship with Sunggyu’s mother that too. It was another level of ridiculousness.

“Yes” Sunggyu answered and Woohyun was feeling all sorts of cringy.

“Do you still like him?” Kyungran asked Woohyun.

Woohyun replied in affirmative since he thought there was no need to lie.

“And what about you? Do you like him?” Kyungran asked Sunggyu.

“You don’t need to know that! This is stupid! Why are you doing this?!” Sunggyu burst out complaining.

Woohyun was surprised at the scene that unfolded. Kyungran stood up holding Sunggyu’s ear, and Sunggyu was grumbling in pain. “I wouldn’t have interfered if you did not lie in the first place. This is your fault, so don’t call me stupid.” She scolded him, letting go of his ear after some time.

“I did not call _you_ stupid!” Sunggyu answered back, but she glared at him, and he kept quiet.

Woohyun had a newfound respect for the woman. There was someone who could tame Sunggyu down now, and Woohyun felt reassured of Sunggyu’s safety in her presence. She would prevent Sunggyu from taking rash decisions. Woohyun felt lesser remorse in letting Sunggyu go now. Of course he would still be as sad as before, there was nothing that could heal his heart at the moment, but the worry for the older that would gnaw him every now and then wouldn’t be present anymore. Besides, Sunggyu did not want Woohyun, and despite how heart breaking it was, Woohyun could not force Sunggyu to like him back.

The mother and son duo were having a glaring contest, and Woohyun broke it. “Kyungran sshi”

The two turned their attention to him.

“I think we should end that topic. I have already confessed my feelings to him twice, and he has clearly expressed his disinterest. He doesn’t like me that way. There’s no reason to talk on this further anymore.”

Woohyun did not understand why Sunggyu looked angry all of a sudden.

“I don’t understand why he would give you the necklace though, but since you say so, I guess I should not delve further into your personal lives.” Kyungran said.

Sunggyu rolled his eyes, and Woohyun gave her a small smile. “Is there anything else you would like to know?”

“I need to talk to Sunggyu. We would like to stay here for today. I am sorry to cause you these sudden troubles, but is there any place we could stay in for the time being? And is it possible we can stay in the village for some time?” Kyungran asked him.

Sunggyu looked surprised at her request too, but he seemed too tired to protest now.

Woohyun would have to ask for permission from the second guard team, and other than that it would be easy.

“Sure” He said. “I will have to take permission from the second head guard though. The two of you will have to come with me.”

“Is Jinwook sshi still the second team head guard?” She asked, untying the scarf she had worn around her waist, and wrapping it around her face.

Woohyun was surprised she knew the second team head guard. “Yes” He said.

“Then it will be an easy job.” She said, and made way to the door, indicating Woohyun and Sunggyu to follow her.

 

The second head guard was out of the village when they went to visit him, so Woohyun left Sunggyu and his mom at one of the empty houses. The sixteenth guard team residence held ten houses, four of which were empty, hence one of those empty houses were lent to Sunggyu.

They could live inside the village, but Woohyun provided the excuse that Sunggyu was technically still a part of Woohyun’s guard team, so he was allowed to stay with them. Sunggyu did not argue, and his mom was happy for some reason.

Once they settled and after the house was made liveable with the help of Woohyun, Sunggyu lied down on the bed, and his mom sat next to him.

She started inspecting Sunggyu’s injuries, removing the bandages. The injuries had almost healed, and it wasn’t hurting anymore.

“Mom why are you doing all of this? We can live our life peacefully away from here. We don’t need to get involved with these people.” He complained.

“I don’t appreciate how you speak about them Gyu. From what I saw, these people seem to care about you.”

“They do, but now I am spending the rest of my life with you by my side, not them. I have already made that clear to them.”

“That is not a good decision you have made, my dear.” She patted his hair.

“Why not?” He pouted, looking at her. “And why were you so harsh to me earlier?”

“I am sorry for that, but you needed the scolding.” She stroked his head.

Sunggyu sulked more.

“And I know you care for them too.”

“But I want to stay with you.” He protested.

“This is not a me-v/s-them situation Sunggyu. You can live with the both of us. You don’t need to abandon either of us.”

If that would have been the case, Sunggyu would have been the happiest person. “How?” He asked confused.

“You can live here like before.”

Yes. But how would _she_ live with them here? It would be a danger for her if she stays at one location constantly. Also it would be a danger for the village since she was hiding from people, and if the ones who were looking for her knew the village was hiding her, they would attack the whole place.

“You know Mirae, one of my scientist friend, is in hiding too right? I will keep on shifting my location with her. The two of us would be good enough on our own. Plus Mirae has a daughter too who stays with her. She’s as good as a fighter as I am. So I would have capable companions too since Mirae’s an average fighter herself, not to mention she’s a brilliant strategist.”

“What if they find you? You are a scientist mom, and Mirae sshi’s a scientist too.”

“You are underestimating us. Do you not think I am a good enough fighter?”

“Appa trained you. You are, better than me. But…”

“But what Gyu?”

Sunggyu sat up, bringing her face in his hands. “I don’t want to separate from you again.” He tried hard not to cry, but he couldn’t. It had been hard for him all of his life.

Sunggyu’s mom was a scientist who had been under the capture of a secret government agency. The Korean government barely functioned, but certain divisions of it still operated. The military was a good enough force, with them recruiting soldiers who helped civilians fight against zombies in exchange for basic supplies. But there was a secret organization that focused on the research of zombies. The organization itself wasn’t bad, but there was an arm under it which was operated by a mad scientist.

The mad scientist had captured three scientists during the zombie apocalypse, one of them being Sunggyu’s mom. He kept the three scientists in his base hidden in the mountains, and forced them to do research work for him.

The work wasn’t bad, but the scientists weren’t allowed to get out of the base at all, no contact with anyone else was allowed to be made.

It had been when Sunggyu’s father had accidentally stumbled into the base fifteen years ago that he had learnt that Sunggyu’s mom was still alive. He had wanted to sneak the three outside, but the crazy scientist had threatened the scientists under his capture that he would blow up many people if the three were to leave, so they were forced to stay there.

Sunggyu’s father had considered killing the scientist himself, but the man being a valued person in the government was protected every moment, and there was no chance he could do that. So Sunggyu’s father would meet his wife once every month secretly after learning the scientist’s schedules. He would bring Sunggyu to meet her once a year too.

They never spoke of it to anyone to keep their secret safe. Sunggyu had always looked forward to the time of the year when he would be able to meet his mom.

Now a year ago, the crazy scientist had died a natural death and the three scientists had fled from the base with Sunggyu’s help. That had been Sunggyu’s mission. He had planned to save his mom from the base, and live his life in hiding with her. The government was looking out for the scientists who had escaped, since the top brass was ignorant of the crazy scientist’s antics and thought the three who fled wanted to trade their research with governments of other nations.

Hence the three scientists had to live their lives in hiding. One of them fled to another country and Mirae and Sunggyu’s mom, stayed here due to memories. They just had to stay out of sight, since no one was actively looking for them, believing they had already fled the country.

What Sunggyu’s mom suggested was a viable option. She could stay in hiding with Mirae. They were strong enough to protect themselves. But…

“I will miss you. I want to be with you.” Sunggyu cried. He did not want to have the experience of separation again. He was used to it but he did not want to let go of her, now that she was free.

“I will visit you regularly. How about that?” She said. Sunggyu could see she was crying too, so he wiped away her tears.

“But”

“I can’t see you like this.” She said. “You know the whole one year I spent with you made me happy, but I always knew there was something you were regretting. Now that I learnt about your life here, I understand. You miss these people right? Whenever you came to see me every year, even though you were happy to meet me, I could see how you were also living a proper life. There were people who loved you back here, and you were living a nice life here. But in the past year, I have taken that from you-”

“No you haven’t.” Sunggyu interrupted. “I want to be alongside you.”

“I would like that too. Maybe one day when the situation is resolved, I could come stay here? Till then I will keep on visiting you regularly, Gyu.”

Sunggyu thought of it, while his mother brought some food for them to eat. He thought of it all the time during lunch, and when he was alone, as his mom left to meet the second team head guard.

When evening came, his mom confronted him again about the issue.

It did not seem a bad option because if his mom came to visit him once a month too, there wouldn’t be much problems, as long as the people in the village were unaware of her existence.

But, Sunggyu was not sure about living here again. He had a lot of doubts. His friends wouldn’t trust him again. He also believed they might never forgive him and he wouldn’t be able to be friends with them again. And there was a high chance Woohyun would fall in love with someone that was not Sunggyu, and then Sunggyu would have to witness Woohyun spending his life with someone else. That would be a perfect punishment for Sunggyu, but he did not want to experience it. It would hurt him a lot, neither did he want to hold back Woohyun from pursuing others due to Sunggyu being around him.

“I don’t know” He admitted.

“I already talked to Jinwook sshi and informed him you will be staying back. He was happy.” His mother said.

“What?” Sunggyu was irritated. “How could you do that without listening to what I have decided first?”

“Calm down. I told him you are not decided yet.”

“When do you plan to leave?”

“Are you already waiting for me to leave?” His mom laughed, and her laughter brought a smile to his face.

“Yes. I wouldn’t have anyone nagging at me if you leave.”

“Oh really? Who was the one begging me to take them along?” She teased him.

Sunggyu turned away from her. “I still don’t know eomma. It will be difficult, since I have convinced myself that I don’t belong here. Even though my heart wants me to stay back, my mind believes I am not meant to stay here.” He admitted honestly.

“It’s up to you Sunggyu. I would like you to be with me, but I also want my son to be happy. I don’t want you to stay away from all the people you love.”

“I love you too.”

“And I love you, my baby. And it is natural for people to want to see their loved ones happy. Which is why my happiness lies in you being happy.”

“I only caused my loved ones pain though. They won’t forgive me ever eomma. They won’t accept me again, and I don’t want to be accepted just like that too. I have caused them a lot of pain, and I know it.” That was his biggest concern.

She placed her hand on Sunggyu’s shoulder. “Okay, so how about this? Stay here for a while. And see how it works out. If you still think you staying here is not good after one year, you can return to me.”

“I can’t leave them again. That would be cruel. If I decide to stay, I really can’t leave again. It will be a final decision.”

“No, it isn’t. If these people really do care for you, they wouldn’t want you to be spending the rest of your life miserably here.”

She was right. But… “I am afraid I will end up hurting them more if I stay.”

“I think they are willing to risk that. That time in the morning Nam Woohyun was fighting you so that you stay back, and the others were also saying that they won’t let you leave. They really want you to stay back Gyu.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better. It just shows how good people they are. They wanted me to stay back since I was hurt, even if it meant that me staying would hurt them.”

“Or maybe it was just a reason they used to make you stay back?”

“No. I am not some kind of important person here mom. They have moved on or at least tried to move on, I don’t want to spoil their efforts.”

She sighed. “Listen Sunggyu. I am not going to waste any more time on convincing you to stay back here, because I don’t want you to do that only on my insistence. Ultimately you should stay back only if _you_ want to. I only want to say that I will be fine on my own, and I don’t need you to babysit me. Just spend your life on your terms okay? It must have been hard for you all these years, and I wasn’t able to be with you. You left your life here so that you could protect me, and now I want you to stop thinking for others and start living for yourself.” She patted his shoulder.

“You don’t know me at all mom. I am the most selfish person to exist.” Sunggyu let out a hollow laugh.

“That’s not true.” Woohyun said from he was standing near the main door of their house. “Sorry to interrupt, I don’t know what you are talking about, but what you said is not true.”

“Yeah?” Sunggyu was surprised to see Woohyun all of a sudden, and the younger’s words made him pissed as hell. Woohyun out of all people, did not have the right to refute the fact that Sunggyu was selfish, when the younger had sung an entire song yesterday night about how Sunggyu had hurt him. “What selfless things have I done, please enlighten me?” Sunggyu challenged.

“I am not here to praise you.” Woohyun gave him a blank stare. “Besides, your mom probably knows more about you than what you assume about yourself. Mothers always know the best.”

“A true intellectual indeed.” Sunggyu’s mom complimented Woohyun, and Sunggyu rolled his eyes.

“What kind of language is that?” Sunggyu groaned and then looked at Woohyun. “Besides, what are you doing here?”

“I will leave if you want that.” Woohyun turned around to leave.

What the hell? Why was Woohyun being so moody? First of all, Woohyun had tried hard to make Sunggyu stay before, but right after the arrival of Sunggyu’s mom, it was like Woohyun did not care for Sunggyu at all. It confused Sunggyu a lot. Did Woohyun really not want him to stay back? Rather than wanting to know the reason for that, Sunggyu was more concerned regarding what decision would make Woohyun happier, because Sunggyu now was heavily leaning towards staying back and trying out to see if he could live here like before, but all the mixed signals from Woohyun were not helping him.

It was not like he was hoping for Woohyun to jump at him the moment he decided to stay back, quite the contrary actually, since he believed Woohyun might not even come close to him because he would be afraid of Sunggyu leaving again. He knew Woohyun well, at least that’s what he thought. But now that Woohyun was being like this, Sunggyu was not really sure if staying back was a good idea, if Woohyun would be able to keep his distance from Sunggyu and vice versa. They would be at each other’s throats soon.

“Wait.” He said, and stomped towards Woohyun. Getting angry at Woohyun was not a good idea, because first, Woohyun did not deserve to be scolded at, and second, their fights were always silly and Sunggyu’s mom would be there to experience their fight this time. So Sunggyu tried to control his anger. He waited for Woohyun to turn around.

Woohyun did turn to him. “What?” The younger huffed.

It was pathetic how Sunggyu would lose all his anger at the sight of even a barely cute Woohyun, but there was no one who was immune from Woohyun’s cuteness, that’s what he believed. So Sunggyu pouted trying to show his annoyance at Woohyun being moody, and Woohyun looked like he had choked on something and suddenly turned away, so Sunggyu blamed himself for worsening the situation. “Why did you come here? Do you have something to say?” Sunggyu hoped Woohyun did not leave.

There were some seconds of silence, after which Woohyun sighed and entered the house.

Woohyun had apparently come to ask whether the second team head guard had allowed them to stay here.

Sunggyu’s mother assured that the Jinwook said that there was no problem with that.

Woohyun looked curious and Sunggyu understood why, because Jinwook was a serious old man who rarely interacted with anyone, and Sunggyu’s mom was talking of the head guard as if he was an old friend. Sunggyu knew that his dad would bring some of the older guards at some occasions with him when he would visit his mom, so she probably knew some of the guards like that.

Sunggyu also caught Woohyun looking at him quite a few times when they were talking.

His mom and Woohyun were getting along quite well, despite the not good first meeting they had. Sunggyu hoped his mom did not give much thought to his relationship with Woohyun. He did not want to discuss about it with her, but with the way Woohyun was glancing at him regularly, it was painstakingly obvious the younger had a thing for him.

So Sunggyu hoped his own acting skills worked, he had tried his best to avoid looking at Woohyun. So it would seem to his mom like Woohyun had been right about their relationship earlier, it was simply Woohyun having a crush on Sunggyu.

But Sunggyu could also catch something wrong with the way Woohyun was speaking. As time passed, the younger seemed too impatient and his moodiness from before was returning.

Sunggyu wanted to ask him what the matter was, if there was something wrong, but he couldn’t, while his mother was present.

“It was nice talking to you Kyungran sshi.” Woohyun said.

They had been talking about the head guards in general. That had been a boring topic for Sunggyu. Woohyun had also said how Sunggyu had been a competitor for Woohyun’s head guard position, and Sunggyu wanted to laugh at that because he had ended up in last position among those selected to be the guards.

“I think it’s time for me to leave.” Woohyun stood up from the couch. “Besides, I don’t think someone here likes my presence.”

Huh? What? As he had been looking down for the entire duration of the talk to avoid Woohyun, Sunggyu’s neck pained as he snapped his face up suddenly from the position he was in.

Woohyun’s eyes accused him, and the younger had that sad look on his face when he was doubting himself. Sunggyu wanted to hit himself for making the younger sad again, but his mother did that for him.

“Yah! Sunggyu, why are you avoiding him?” She said, giving a light hit on his uninjured arm.

“Um…. I wasn’t.” That was the best he could come up with, which was also a blatant lie.

Woohyun looked really insulted and hurt, and Sunggyu wanted to shake him and explain he had been avoiding him for a reason. The younger had been too considerate today, and helped them a lot, even being friendly with Sunggyu’s mom who had first threatened to hurt Woohyun.

So Sunggyu should have been grateful to him, this was not what he had hoped would happen.

Woohyun turned to leave, so Sunggyu ran up to him, he would do anything to cheer him up. He was really sick of making Woohyun sad. And if he had to experience that one more time, he did not know what he was going to do.

“Woohyun-ah…. I am staying back.” The words came out of his mouth and it was too late to take them back.

Woohyun turned around shocked and Sunggyu stood like a mannequin, no more words coming out of him.

“What do you mean?” Woohyun asked.

Sunggyu’s mom explained for him. “He is staying here. He won’t be leaving. I will be leaving alone tonight.”

“W-why?” Woohyun looked like he had aged several years, and was having a difficult time grasping things.

“Because he can. He had to stay away for a reason before, and that reason doesn’t exist anymore.” She said, not really stating the reason. Sunggyu was thankful she had not revealed anything to anyone other than the guards she knew. If Sunggyu wanted his friends to know, he wanted to be the one to reveal it to them.

Sunggyu was also sure Woohyun had become tired of the cryptic answers and would want a real reason, but he was not prepared for the younger to go all berserk.

“WHAT? Is this a joke?” Woohyun shouted. “This is a very bad joke.” His eyes showed fury and Sunggyu was scared of him.

“This isn’t a joke. I am saying the truth.” Sunggyu’s mom said seriously, and Woohyun must have believed it, because his expression changed all of a sudden.

And something which Sunggyu had never expected to happen occurred.

Woohyun charged towards him, and pushed him to the ground. “You fucker, don’t ever come near me!” And after saying that, he left.

 

It was night time, and Sunggyu was sitting on the top of a hill situated in the corner of the village. It had taken him a while to get there, but he needed the escape.

There were no walls on this side, as the hill served as a natural barrier to the outside world, and since the outer side had hills and forests too, there was rarely any undead activity in the surrounding area. But it also served as an entry point to unwelcome humans, so there were always one or two guards patrolling the area.

There were two people guarding the area currently from what Sunggyu observed, guards whom Sunggyu only knew by name. They had noticed Sunggyu’s presence but hadn’t approached him, they must have known of his presence in the village.

He was thankful for that, and continued star-watching.

The moonlight lit up the area around him beautifully, and Sunggyu let himself be free of any thoughts for some time.

Then today’s incidents came to him slowly, one by one.

It had been an exhausting day, and now that everything was settled, a sense of calmness settled over him, but there were certain things that still disturbed his thoughts.

Upon how Woohyun had reacted to the news, Sunggyu had decided to leave as soon as possible. His mom agreed to that, because though she wasn’t angry at Woohyun, she also did not want to leave her son behind if things would be like that, that’s what she said.

The two had packed up and were at the ninth wall by midnight, waiting for the second team head guard and some other acquaintances to arrive, so they could bid their goodbyes, and start their journey.

Sunggyu had wanted to meet his friends one time before leaving, but they may have similar reactions as Woohyun to the fact that Sunggyu had considered staying, so he would rather not tell them about it at all. They were probably used to Sunggyu hurting them and leaving without informing by now.

Sunggyu lied down on the grass, and tried to let go of all the negative thoughts in his mind. Those brought down his concentration. Also he was supposed to stay here in this village for a long time, so he had to learn to adjust.

How had he ended up staying back? It was confusing to him too, but considering what happened when the second team head guard and other guards met him, it was not unbelievable.

When the guards had arrived to bid Sunggyu’s mom goodbye, they had been surprised to see Sunggyu with a bag pack too.

Sunggyu had explained that he had made the decision of leaving, and Jinwook replied to that that Woohyun had informed him that Sunggyu would be staying in the village from then on and had also asked him permissions for letting out the house Sunggyu and his mom stayed in today as Sunggyu’s permanent residence.

That had surprised both Sunggyu and his mom, and Jinwook had further said that Woohyun was done obtaining all the permissions, and even the formalities for getting Sunggyu as a permanent member of the sixteenth guard team was complete. They had also even decided the furniture to be moved to Sunggyu’s new house.

All of that had seemed truly unreal considering how Woohyun had reacted to Sunggyu’s revelation earlier, but there was no reason for Jinwook or any other guard to be lying.

When he had already told Woohyun he would be staying back and as Woohyun still believed that, Sunggyu couldn’t suddenly change his decision and leave without even informing the younger about it. So Sunggyu and his mom had asked the guards for some time to think about it.

Sunggyu had thought about it alone in a resting place used for soldiers next to the wall, he had had to make a decision soon since Sunggyu’s mom couldn’t wait longer. She had to travel some distance to reach Mirae’s hiding place, and she needed to reach the first wall before dawn, so that she could use maximum daytime for her travel outside of the village to her destination. The distances between the walls were considerable and took quite a few hours to cover.

Sunggyu could have contacted Woohyun and informed him he was not staying back, but that would be like him leaving again, and that too, after making the younger believe he was staying back. And Sunggyu did not want to make Woohyun feel bad again. His leaving might not even affect Woohyun, but it would definitely remind the younger of the painful memories from last year when Sunggyu had left without telling anyone about it beforehand, and that was not what Sunggyu had wanted to achieve.

He could tolerate Woohyun hurting him, or manhandling him like the younger had pushed him away when Sunggyu had revealed his decision of staying back, but he had wanted to stop hurting the younger.

Also, Sunggyu had wanted to give one chance to living again at the place that meant the world to him, which held all of his memories, which held his heart. He had wanted to give it a try even if it ended up hurting him.

Hence, he had decided to stay back and was now sitting here at a faraway corner of the village, hoping to not run into anyone.

There were a lot of decisions he had to take, about his living circumstances here, but all he wanted now was to make his mind calm down for some time. The emotional turbulence he had experienced today was too much, and his mind needed to rejuvenate.

 

 

 


	7. 06. comfort

 

_Two weeks later_

The chatter of students filled the class as the class was dismissed for the day.

Sunggyu packed his books into his bag and made his way to the exit, as the students were waiting for him to leave, so they could leave too.

He walked to his house nearby which was a part of the teacher’s quarters. Most teachers of Gwangju’s only school lived right next to the school, so that they did not need to cycle to school daily.

Sunggyu was hired at the post of a history teacher two weeks ago. So far, he liked his job. He wasn’t a newbie and all the years after he was done with his schooling and before he left to train for the guard exams, he had been a teacher at this school. So he was used to it.

The only difference was, then Sunggyu would cycle to his job from his old home, and now Sunggyu lived right next to the school.

Since the school’s timings were till two in the afternoon, Sunggyu was free to do whatever for the rest of the day.

The first day here, he had spent in getting settled in his new house, and had given an interview for his job. He had been accepted since everyone knew his performance there anyway, and there had been a vacancy too. Though Sunggyu used to teach science earlier, now he was a history teacher since there had been no vacancy in the science department. He taught to middle schoolers and high schoolers, and some of them were his past students too.

The past two weeks had been really active for him. Most of the villagers were happy to see him back. Most seemed confused about his disappearance a year ago, and it occurred to Sunggyu that probably not many knew the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and he was thankful for that.

His students were happy to have him back too.

With regards to his friends and family here… Sunggyu visited Sungjong’s family the second day of his stay here. They seemed angry at him for leaving without telling them, but more than that they were relieved to have him back. Sunggyu did inform them why he had left, and asked them not to tell about it to Sungjong, since he wanted to tell it to the younger himself.

The following day he met some of his old neighbours and Woohyun’s family. Woohyun’s family expressed their disappointment at him for leaving without informing and how it affected Woohyun. They were glad to have him back though and Sunggyu felt like he did not deserve their kindness.

Boohyun compensated for that by giving Sunggyu a punch on his face. His lips bled and Sunggyu was actually surprised he was not beaten anymore. He did ask for forgiveness from Boohyun. Boohyun did not talk much to him, but Sunggyu could get the feeling from him that Boohyun would come to talking terms with him soon.

On the fourth day, he met the guards, some of his hyungs and many older guards who were friends of Sunggyu’s father and who used to check on Sunggyu regularly after his father passed away.

Sunggyu would occasionally have dinner at Sungjong’s place, since Sungjong’s mom invited him almost daily, but the lack of Sungjong’s presence there was both sad and a bit of relief for him.

On the fifth day, he took some time off to gather himself, and to plan how he was supposed to initiate talking with his friends. He had not met any of them after he started staying here. No one came to visit him, and it actually hurt him, even though he knew he probably deserved that.

He had wondered for a long time, if he should even seek out his friends, or instead just live his life here all alone, but they deserved to hear an apology from him at least, so he asked Sungjong’s brother to tell Sungjong that Sunggyu wanted to meet him, and if he was free, Sunggyu would come to pick up Sungjong in the afternoon.

On the sixth day, Sunggyu waited for Sungjong in the younger’s house for about half an hour and Sungjong’s mother and father tried to keep him entertained for a long time, but when it was half hour past the decided time, Sunggyu knew Sungjong did not want to talk, so he had excused himself.

He had cried to himself the entire day after that, and upon nightfall, disappeared into the hills where he spent his nights most of the times gazing at the stars alone.

When he had felt like crying again there, Sungjong had suddenly appeared and sat next to him.

After that, what happened was still hazy in Sunggyu’s memory, because he had been crying and smiling at the same time then, and there had been too many things going on then.

But if what he remembered was correct, Sungjong had explained that he could not come in the afternoon due to an emergency the team had to attend to, and in fact Sungjong had been waiting for Sunggyu to approach him because the younger had wanted Sunggyu to make the first move, and that he was glad Sunggyu had wanted to talk to him.

Sunggyu had cried to Sungjong about everything, and revealed to him his reason for leaving, also about how he felt pathetic past year, how much it hurt leaving them behind without informing, and how he did not want to be a part of their lives again, because he did not want to hurt them.

Sungjong had listened without commenting much, and their talks had resumed again after Sunggyu was done with his teaching on the seventh day, and after Sungjong was free from his guard duties.

Sungjong came to Sunggyu’s house this time, and even though it was still more of Sunggyu rambling about how he did not deserve things and also much of Sunggyu apologizing to Sungjong for hurting him, it also involved Sungjong explaining about how _he_ felt.

Sungjong relayed how like the others, he had hated Sunggyu for a long time, and still hated him for worrying them. Sunggyu need not apologize because he had already apologized in his letter once, but Sungjong did not appreciate how Sunggyu did not trust them to support him in his mission. Sunggyu must have wanted to stay in hiding to protect his mom, but that did not mean Sunggyu had to cut off his contact with his friends. The younger also explained how it made him feel as if their friendship was not strong enough.

Sunggyu apologized again, and from then on it was Sungjong just nagging the same things at him again and again. After feeding Sunggyu dinner, Sungjong left Sunggyu’s house and told him Dongwoo would come to meet him the next day since the older was dying to meet Sunggyu.

And then one by one, Sunggyu met all of his friends. It went better than expected. Dongwoo had hugged him right after he arrived and did not let Sunggyu withdraw from his hug for at least an hour. Hoya had cried surprisingly. Sungyeol had nagged at him a whole lot. Myungsoo had clung to him like a koala and stayed the night with him. They also scolded Sunggyu a lot, and they weren’t as freely talking to him as they would a year ago, but that they were even talking was like heaven to Sunggyu, and he was really glad he had decided to stay back.

But he was yet to meet Woohyun, and he was not sure how that would turn out.

Sunggyu had declined the position of the guard in Woohyun’s team that Woohyun had arranged for him, and also moved out of the sixteenth guard residence the very next day of his stay there, without informing Woohyun of that. So he wasn’t sure Woohyun was willing to talk to him.

They hadn’t met at all after the time Woohyun had pushed Sunggyu away when Sunggyu had conveyed his decision to stay back, and Sunggyu was scared of meeting the younger. But he was also dying to meet the younger, to catch a glimpse of him, to check up on him and to know if Sunggyu’s presence was hurting him. Sunggyu was used to the feeling though since he had spent the past year missing Woohyun, missing his arms and body comforting him, missing his voice lulling him to sleep when things went bad for Sunggyu, and simply Woohyun’s presence around him cheering him up and supporting him. It had made him realize that his love for the younger was deep and not simply the romantic kind of love or lust. Sunggyu held a lot of respect for Woohyun as a person and owed him a lot. So even if he had to stay away from someone whom he desired so much for his entire life, he was ready to do that if it meant that someone’s happiness.

Woohyun had arranged for Sunggyu a position in his team and also arranged for residence among his team, so that must mean Woohyun was not averse to Sunggyu’s stay, but because Sunggyu had not even met him once, and since Woohyun had not had a good reaction before, made Sunggyu afraid of trying to contact the younger.

And Woohyun had been the one to ask him to stay away, so Sunggyu did not know if he should contact the younger at all. He wanted to apologize, but if Woohyun wanted to stay away, Sunggyu was not going to force the younger to meet him.

Woohyun asking him to stay away from him, was one of the reasons Sunggyu had declined the offer to be the guard in the sixteenth team. He was still technically a member of the team, since he had cleared the sixteenth year exams, but he did not deserve to be a part of the team, that’s what he felt.

In addition to his teaching job, he could become a trainer for the potential guard candidates too, in future. What he wanted to do the most was to work as a guard, and follow in his father’s footsteps, but he lacked the emotional capability to be one at the moment. He could probably reattempt the exam again next year after surrendering his current status of a guard and try to join the eighteenth team.

All those and many more thoughts occupied his mind, as he went to have a bath. It was eight in the night, and though he did not need a bath, it was a habit since his trainee days to bath again at night, after training hard in the day. He was also unlikely to stumble upon any of his friends anywhere in the village since they were guards and lived in the guard quarters between the tenth and ninth wall, so Sunggyu did not feel restricted to move inside the tenth wall in fear of stumbling into Woohyun.

When he was done with bathing in the men’s common room for teachers and their families, he decided to go visit his old house.

It would be creepy visiting it at night, since the house had been abandoned for a long time. Even while training, Sunggyu had not looked after it well, so there might be spiders and dust all around.

But Sunggyu felt really nostalgic and since it held a lot of his early memories, he headed for that place.

Once inside his house, that was just twenty minutes away from his current house, Sunggyu lit up the lantern in his hand. He had used the spare key he kept hidden under the window to enter.

Since there was no moon today, and there weren’t any streetlights around his house, Sunggyu couldn’t clearly gauge the condition of the house.

The front door had seemed really clean and Sunggyu guessed Sungjong’s kind mother had probably kept it clean. The Lee’s had a key to his house, and Dongwoo had one too, but he doubted anyone visited this place at all.

There was no kind of bad smell coming, and the house smelled fresh for some reason. Had someone been visiting this place and cleaning it regularly? Who would do that? And why would they do that? Not even Sunggyu looked after it much when he was here.

As Sunggyu ventured inside the house and checked the couch, the book stand and the clothes rack and chairs in the living room, he realized, someone had to be looking after this place.

Things were at their places, as they had been when Sunggyu had left the place a long time ago. Since Sunggyu had moved into a new house for training, he had left behind his old things here. And nothing was missing. Some of his dad’s favourite books, Sunggyu’s childhood toys, his old guitar, everything was in its place. The fireplace looked well maintained too. That was a surprise. Sunggyu lit up the fireplace and kept his lantern aside since now the whole house was illuminated including most of the bedroom. He moved to the bedroom and there was no dust on the floors or the bed, and everything looked pristine, in fact, in a better condition than Sunggyu had left it.

It felt like a joke, because Sunggyu was sure even Sungjong’s mother wouldn’t do all of this, when Sunggyu hadn’t bothered himself, but the reality was in front of his eyes.

It was all the more baffling because the situation could have been explained by anything that indicated that the village had decided to let the house out to someone else since none of the original residents of the house were in the village anymore, but that too did not seem to be the case, since the house did not look occupied.

Sunggyu sat down on the bed, and huddled himself into a corner, creeped out by his discovery. He wondered if he should go visit Sungjong’s family some houses away, and ask them about it, but they must be getting ready to sleep.

So he decided to stay there for some time and ask any of his friends about it tomorrow.

 

 

 

It had become a routine for him now. Instead of going to the hill at nights, he would come to his old house and stay there for some time. Memories and thoughts would invade his mind, and he thought about a lot of things- his future, how and when to reach out to Woohyun to apologize, when his mom would come to visit him again, if she was doing well, whether his dad would be happy or mad at how he was living his life, when he would be able to talk to his friends freely again, and many more stuff.

Tonight was the fifth consecutive time he was coming here, and as he sat on his bed in a corner, he took his old guitar in his lap, and began strumming a few strings.

It was more than a year since he had last picked up a guitar, so it took him a while to get adjusted.

Thankfully both the guitar and the guitar case were clean, and Sunggyu felt really grateful to whoever had been looking after the house. He was really curious but hadn’t been able to find out the mystery person. He had asked Dongwoo and the younger knew nothing about it. So Sunggyu had tried to obtain information from Sungjong’s mom, whether she had visited the house, and she had replied that she had not stepped into the house at all.

Sunggyu kind of had a feeling who it could be, but it also seemed very unlikely. He wanted to believe it was Woohyun who had been visiting here, but that image in his mind made him gloomy.

The first few songs he strummed were sad ones.

Sunggyu had been angry today at Sungyeol since the younger had told him that he had revealed to Woohyun everything Sunggyu told him. That made Sunggyu pissed off since he had specifically intimated all of his friends that he wanted to talk to everyone personally about why he had left and so they should not reveal about it to each other before Sunggyu had the chance to do that.

To that, Sungyeol had replied that though he respected Sunggyu’s wishes, a long time had passed since Sunggyu had arrived here, almost a month actually. And it was unfair to keep only Woohyun among them in dark about why Sunggyu had left, and since Sunggyu did not seem to harbour any intention to reveal everything to Woohyun, Sungyeol had to do that.

Sunggyu wasn’t even really mad after that, because, yes, Woohyun deserved to know everything and he was relieved that one burden was off his chest.

He wondered what Woohyun must be doing now. He imagined him in his regular clothes- casual jeans and t-shirt, interacting with the other team guards and discussing strategies and jokes, and a laugh came out of Sunggyu.

Woohyun would have certainly charmed every one of the guards by now, and Sunggyu was a bit jealous since he had also heard the guards speak of Woohyun in a fond way whenever Sunggyu met them. So Woohyun would now be the most favourite son of the older guards, and that made him jealous, but it was so natural for Woohyun to charm everyone that Sunggyu wasn’t even mad at him for stealing his position.

He recollected how charmed he had been by the younger himself as he would come across him in his neighbourhood during his teenage years. But as they grew older, Sunggyu’s feeling of loneliness had increased and even though he had Dongwoo as a friend then, he would be jealous of Woohyun who despite being two years younger, had a lot more standing compared to Sunggyu, whom people only knew as his father’s son.

So he would hate Woohyun then, and they had a fight one day due to some silly reason, and became friends after that.

Now it was many years after that, more than a decade that Sunggyu knew Woohyun for, and he couldn’t imagine how his life without the younger would be.

He would probably be the same person, but Woohyun had supported him through many tough times, and had been a good and understanding friend throughout, that he did not want to let go of the memories of the younger ever.

If Woohyun’s happiness would be not alongside him, he would accept that. But he would try to remember the younger as long as possible.

Woohyun meant a lot to him.

Sunggyu strummed his guitar to a song he had made while he had the younger in his mind two years ago. It took him a while to recollect all the notes, the song, and he realized how well it fitted with how he was feeling. It wasn’t a sad song, it was just right. It also took him time to get used to singing after a long time, but the song flowed smoothly after that.

 

_We’re definitely both_

_Living under the same sky, right?_

_If we really make up our minds_

_We can meet up, right?_

_I miss you so much, it pierces me_

_I spend all night with open eyes_

_At the sound of morning_

_I snap out of it_

_Then my heart is running_

_To you, once again_

_We’re definitely both_

_Living under the same sky, right?_

_If we really make up our minds_

_We can meet up, right?_

_I miss you so much, I get goosebumps_

_I don’t even know why I’m like this_

_I wish I knew_

_Even in the middle of this_

_Then my heart is running_

_To you, once again_

_I can’t be free from you_

_For even a single moment_

_I can’t_

_My heart is going to you again_

_Even in this moment_

_I’m running to you_

_I can’t be free from you_

_For even a single minute_

_I can’t_

Obsessed, obsessed he was with Woohyun. It took him a lot of strength to pretend he wasn’t affected by being away from Woohyun. Out of sight, out of mind, they said. Well, that did not work for him.

All the time he had been separate from Woohyun in the past year made his heart prick. It made him feel stupid that _he_ out of all persons was being affected by his love for someone.

Being rational was one of his strengths; obsessive love was not something he had ever expected to be in. When he was a teenager, he had hoped to fall in love with an intelligent guy or girl, someone who he would discuss world problems with, someone who would be able to hold a conversation with him.

It was not like Woohyun did not fit that criteria but while with Woohyun, Sunggyu would be more interested to know about the younger’s day, whether he needed help anywhere, whether he had learnt something new that he could teach to Sunggyu, whether the younger was eating well, what new songs he had composed, whether Woohyun was doing well in life in general. It was all about Woohyun.

And the younger had been such an important piece in his life, that Sunggyu missed him terribly. If he had the choice, he would run to Woohyun at that very moment and never let go of him. But that was not possible now.

There were a lot of happy memories he had in this house including a few sad ones. He tried to remember the good times.

Then his mind moved to the time when Woohyun had come to him and touched him for the first time. Thinking of it like that, made him feel embarrassed, but he had already thought a lot about it many times before.

The situation during that time was that Sunggyu had been sad then since many days, as one of the guards he knew had been killed during a mission. Since that person was someone Woohyun was closer to though, the younger had been even more upset. They hadn’t met for a long time then, each grieving on their own.

When Sunggyu had finally managed to get past the sadness, Woohyun had come to his house. Even before he could have fully opened the door to let the younger in, he had been tackled onto the ground by the younger, and hugged.

But it had not stopped at hugging, and Woohyun had gone ahead and declared he had missed Sunggyu and that he needed him. Sunggyu had of course tried to assure him he was there, but then Woohyun had dragged him to the couch and had had his way with him. The younger had asked many times whether Sunggyu was fine with whatever he was doing, and Sunggyu had just brought him closer to feel more of him.

It had been impossible to tell no to Woohyun then, he had already been deep in love with the younger.

He was also really surprised when he learnt the younger loved him. Sunggyu had been in a one-sided love for so long that when Woohyun had declared his love last year when he had come after him to bring him back, Sunggyu had been in disbelief. But there was no way Woohyun would lie about his feelings just to bring Sunggyu back, and the younger had looked serious too. It had hurt Sunggyu a lot, that when finally his love was being reciprocated, he could not experience it.

He sang the song again, hoping to not become angsty all again and trying to just remember the past.

“Woohyun ah” He said lowly at the end. He missed his friend Woohyun.

“Sunggyu”

Wait. What?

Someone had called out his name, and it sounded like Woohyun’s voice. After a few seconds of silence, Sunggyu got up and started checking the house. He ran to the living room and the front door was ajar.

Then… had Woohyun been there?

He ran outside and checked the entire area outside for any sign of the younger, but quit after fifteen minutes of finding nothing, deciding to go back home.

 

 

 

“Just go to him already.”

“He doesn’t want to see me.”

“But you want to see him.”

“…”

“You miss him right?”

“…”

“Hyun”

“I do Dongwoo hyung. But shouldn’t he be coming to me?”

“Maybe he wants you to decide whether you want him back in your life?”

“Or…”

“Or what?”

“I think I know why things are like this.”

“Why?”

“When he told me he would be staying, I told him to not come near me at all.”

Dongwoo was done drying off Woohyun’s hair with the towel and sat in front of him, facing him. “Why did you do that? Did he hurt you or say something bad?” Dongwoo looked worried.

“No.” Woohyun shook his head in denial.

Dongwoo patted his head. “Then?”

“I was surprised that he was suddenly deciding to stay back, when he vehemently denied our requests in the morning that day for him to stay back.”

“That’s fair enough. Your behaviour can be excused since no one was expecting that Gyu hyung would stay back. But even then you can still go talk to him about your worries now. He might bring that thing up, but I doubt he would hold a grudge for that despite how petty he gets sometimes. Do you even want to talk to him Woohyunie?”

“I do. Why are you like this? He already came to you and talked to you and everyone else. I am the only one he doesn’t want to talk to!”

“But you want to talk to him right?”

“No.”

“But you said you miss him earlier” Dongwoo looked at him confused.

Woohyun stomped his feet, pouting. “I did. So why are you asking me the same thing again and again? Hyuuung”

“Okay okay” Dongwoo laughed. “I think you would have to approach him first, if you want to that is.”

“How long will he stay away from me anyway?”

“I don’t know. Even though hyung has a short temper, he’s really patient with things he wants to do. So I guess it might even take years.”

“Why are you like this?” Woohyun was frustrated.

“That’s what I think.” Dongwoo finished their discussion and went to take his turn for a bath.

 

Sunggyu wondered if he should practice with his guitar tonight too. It might become noisy and if Woohyun comes again today, Sunggyu might miss him if there wasn’t complete silence. He wasn’t yet sure that it was Woohyun who had called out his name yesterday, or whether he had only hallucinated, but he did not want to risk it.

In the end, he decided to sing simply, because if he sat still without doing anything, his mind would be consumed by thoughts again. He could go to meet his friends, but they lived far away in the guard quarters. That was one of the reasons Sunggyu thought that it wasn’t Woohyun who was there yesterday.

Why would Woohyun cycle the distance of half an hour to and fro just to come here? And even if he had come yesterday, he wouldn’t come today again, would he?

Sunggyu started singing the song he had sung yesterday which he had titled ‘Stuck On’. It felt creepy as he sat on one corner of the bed, leaning on the wall, singing all by himself in the dimly lit bedroom.

When he was done with the song, he decided to sing something else, but then a silhouette of something appeared in the room, and he was scared as hell. The figure moved closer to him, and Sunggyu realized it was Woohyun.

He was not sure how to react. There were a number of emotions and thoughts swivelling in his head. He was glad Woohyun had come, but he was also unsure how they were supposed to talk, and whether he should already apologize before Woohyun could settle down.

The younger climbed on to the bed, and Sunggyu was nervous, but Woohyun simply sat on the other corner of the bed, mirroring Sunggyu’s position against the wall. They were not facing each other, and that was probably for the best, but Sunggyu wanted to look at the younger. He had missed him a lot.

So he turned towards Woohyun and the younger looked at him back at that.

There was utter silence for a few minutes and Sunggyu wondered if it was Woohyun or a ghost sitting next to him, but finally Sunggyu gathered courage and managed to choke out, “I-I am s-sorry”

“I am not here to kill you. Relax.” Woohyun said, his features softening a bit.

“I am really sorry.” Sunggyu repeated. Just listening to Woohyun’s voice made something in him break, because oh god, he had missed him so much. Though he was not crying, his voice was surely doing the job of showing Sunggyu’s feelings.

“What use would that sorry be?” Woohyun said, looking down.

“Sorry”

Woohyun laughed. “Please stop. You were planning to leave again. You stayed back only on your mother’s insistence I heard, so it’s not like you are really sorry.”

Those words made Sunggyu feel really bad, because that was not how things were. Woohyun was mistaking his actions, but Sunggyu couldn’t blame him. “If I had the chance to decide to stay here or not, I would definitely choose staying here. There were certain things that were preventing me from doing that. And when those things stopped holding me back, I-”

“So your mom was holding you back?”

“No, it’s not like that. I was worried about her and care for her-”

“And we come on second priority for you right? I understand, she’s your mom after all.”

“She needed to be protected. You did not need protection.”

“So I should be weak for Kim Sunggyu to care for me?”

“No!” Sunggyu was agitated. “My mom isn’t weak, but she has people looking for her.”

“So I should become a wanted person too, for you to care about me?” Woohyun was now looking straight at him, and his gaze showed anger and sadness.

Sunggyu did not want to proceed with this, but Woohyun was blabbering anything in response and he looked really sad, and Sunggyu couldn’t help but feel really guilty. He knew he was guilty, but being accused like this directly, magnified his feelings of guilt.

“Okay then.” Woohyun moved to get up, but Sunggyu blocked him.

“Wait. Where are you going?”

“To announce to the government that I know where your mom is, so that I’ll be wanted too, and then you will care for me.”

“Are you stupid?” Sunggyu shouted.

Woohyun’s anger intensified, Sunggyu could literally feel that from his body. “Yes. I am. I am a really stupid person.”

Sunggyu wanted to hug Woohyun, tell him that he was really sorry, and would stay away from him forever if Woohyun wanted that. But then what happened, Sunggyu was not prepared for that. He was not prepared to have Woohyun breakdown in front of him and that was what was happening.

Woohyun had seemed alright till now, even though the younger had started showering questions on him, he had seemed fine. But this was the return of the Woohyun from that day, who desperately sung of his feelings, and the want to just disappear from there came back to Sunggyu.

Even though Sunggyu had promised everyone he would try to take care of himself, he was not really sure now. He wanted to just fuck off from everyone’s lives. His other friends had accepted him back pretty easily, but Sunggyu had not hurt them like he had hurt Woohyun. Sunggyu had been in love with Woohyun and as per what the younger had said, Woohyun had been in love with Sunggyu too. And being abandoned by someone you loved without any warning must have been really painful.

And Sunggyu was the cause of that pain. Seeing Woohyun hurt like that only managed to fuck with Sunggyu’s mind and heart.

Woohyun was crying, crying into himself, hugging himself, and cowering into a corner.

Sunggyu was in front of him, not touching him, but close enough.

He would have closed the distance between them and comforted Woohyun in whichever way the younger wished to be comforted had it been a year ago, but now, he did not have the right to approach Woohyun at all. Yet his mind was in agony from seeing Woohyun in that state.

Trying his best to restrain himself from approaching Woohyun, he gathered himself, wiping off the tears that had dropped from his own eyes.

“I’ll go bring Dongwoo or Sungyeol. You stay here till that time, okay?” He said, turning around to fetch someone who could look after Woohyun. He could even check if Boohyun was around near his house; that would be better.

“No need to do that.” Woohyun’s voice came from behind him.

Sunggyu turned around to have his sight land on a determined Woohyun, whose face was tear-stricken.

“I am leaving.” Woohyun declared.

“No. You wait here. I’ll bring someone. Please wait.”

“I am going away.”

That sounded ominous. “What do you mean?”

“I am leaving this place forever.”

“Wh-what?” What was Woohyun saying?

The younger got down from the bed, and stood in front of Sunggyu. “I can’t stay here anymore.”

“Why? You can’t leave your parents here and go away.”

“I’ll come back to see them after a year or so.”

“Are you crazy? Why are you doing this?” Sunggyu was troubled and he was sure he was going to break down soon by the barrage of pain his heart was being hit by.

“I can’t live like this, pining over someone who doesn’t care for me.” Woohyun was sobbing badly. “I-I can’t live while waiting for that someone to come to me. You care for everyone else, b-but never think about me, never worry about me. Do you even realise how much pain I am in you fucker? I feel like a useless piece of trash and that’s completely your fault!” Woohyun jabbed his fingers onto Sunggyu’s chest.

Sunggyu stumbled back from the force. Losing his balance, he was about to fall back on his head on the ground. He had been trained to avoid that, but his mind was not working at all. So he simply braced himself for the impact.

For some reason, Woohyun had tried to prevent his fall though and they both ended up falling, Sunggyu lying on top of Woohyun, the latter lying on the ground.

Woohyun’s face was wet from tears and Sunggyu couldn’t bear to look at him directly. He got up from over the younger and stood still like a mannequin next to the bed.

If this was the pre-apocalypse times, Sunggyu could probably go to the psychiatrist or counsellors who existed during those times as per the books he read. They could have helped Sunggyu in regaining his mental composure by giving him medicines which did not exist today. Or Sunggyu could have simply overdosed on the pills to fall into a never ending sleep.

But he lived in the post apocalypse world, and there were none of those stuffs present today.

Sunggyu’s eyes registered the light coming from the living room. He wanted light in his world; any more darkness could not be handled by him.

He walked out of the bedroom to the living room, following the direction of the light. Once he reached the fireplace, he sat down on the floor in front of it.

Woohyun must have already left by now with how weird Sunggyu was being. Or the younger must have again assumed that Sunggyu did not care about him or hated him or the likes, and hence wanted to go away from him.

Sunggyu laughed at that thought. There was something wet he felt on his cheeks, they were tears probably, but he did not care anymore. He was tired of the sadness. The feeling of guilt, loneliness, and of being a failure and an obstacle for his loved ones ate him up.

He had hurt Woohyun the most, and the younger was probably right in thinking Sunggyu did not care about him anymore. Sunggyu definitely hated him, right?

The countless nights Sunggyu had cried the past year was not something he could explain to the younger. And that wasn’t what Woohyun needed anyway. Whatever amount of pain Sunggyu had been in would never change the fact that Sunggyu had hurt Woohyun. He had not trusted in the younger.

If he was given a second chance, he would probably make the same decision though. Because then, Sunggyu had not known that the government would stop actively looking for his mother sometime. He had assumed she would be a widely wanted person throughout her life. He had not thought it would be easy like this. And he had not wanted Woohyun or any of his friends to come with him, and stay in hiding for their entire life. Woohyun would probably have done that, even if he had not loved Sunggyu because the younger cared for Sunggyu, which Sunggyu knew. Sunggyu had not wanted that for Woohyun. He would not want that for the younger ever, because he did not want the younger to sacrifice his life and happiness for him.

But at the same time, he understood Woohyun too. Sunggyu would have been equally angry and devastated, if not more, had Woohyun left Sunggyu like that. But as for Sunggyu, he had no one except a few people who cared for him. It was his friends who cared for him the most. And probably Sungjong’s family, Woohyun’s family and the guards cared for him after that.

But that was all he had.

Whereas Woohyun had a lot of things he would miss. He had his biological family who cared for him a whole lot. The entire village loved him. Besides, Woohyun was someone who deserved all the love and happiness in the world, unlike Sunggyu who was meant to be unhappy in this life. Having no mother with him till now, having a father who worked hard for the village and worked equally hard to play with Sunggyu but still barely managing to do that, having no siblings who cared for him, it was not like Sunggyu was destined to receive happiness. He was a lonely being, who somehow by his only luck managed to have gems of people as friends and well-wishers. And now he had hurt them too. Sunggyu did not deserve anything. He had also hurt the person he loved the most, beyond redemption.

Bringing his knees up to his chin, Sunggyu buried his head down between his legs.

The heat from the fire was warming him up, and going a little closer might stop all the worries he had. But he had promised his friends he wouldn’t think of hurting himself anymore and if he broke their trust again, that would be even more heart breaking for them.

So Sunggyu decided to quit for the night. He would go to the hill and sleep over there, that is, if sleep would come. He did not want to sleep. He wanted to disappear. His existence caused a lot of pain to people he cared for.

It was a cycle of thoughts his mind was revolving around and he was not sure how he could break that. He realized he was still crying, and he couldn’t go out in this state, because someone might see him like that.

So he decided to wash up his face before leaving. He could continue loathing himself and crying once he reached the hill.

As he turned around away from the fire, he was startled to see Woohyun sitting next to him.

A gasp came out of him, and he brought his hands to his mouth.

Woohyun turned to him and the younger was definitely a mirror of Sunggyu’s state.

There was snot coming down from his nose, and his whole face had tear tracks, more tears threatening to fall out of his eyes.

Sunggyu’s heart was already in pieces, the sight made him choke on his sobs.

The expression Woohyun had as he looked at Sunggyu was utterly sad.

“Sunggyu” Woohyun called out, wiping his own face with a tissue. He took out another one from the tissue box next to him and offered it to Sunggyu.

Sunggyu took it, giving the younger what he thought was a smile. The grimace which came upon Woohyun’s face made him realize he probably looked horrifying.

Sunggyu did not care about his appearance though. He wiped his face, and stood up. It felt empty because he was a little further away from Woohyun when he was standing compared to when he was sitting, but he needed to get away from the younger. Otherwise he might do something which might hurt Woohyun more.

Till now, he had held the hope that he probably could patch things up with the younger.

But no more.

Woohyun still believed Sunggyu hated him. It would be difficult to gain his trust back and Sunggyu had been the one to break it. Woohyun might never trust him again.

A relationship without trust was meaningless. And Sunggyu was rational enough to not let Woohyun be tied by a damaging relationship.

This was the end.

“I am leaving now. You should leave too.” Sunggyu said to Woohyun.

Woohyun laughed. “That was what I was planning to do before you stopped me. This place doesn’t need me!” He spoke crazily.

“No. You are going back to your home and staying with Dongwoo for the night. I’ll make sure you do that. You aren’t going anywhere else.” Sunggyu ordered.

Woohyun stood up and looked at him fiercely. “I’ll do whatever _I_ want. You can’t do anything to stop me.”

“If you try to leave this place, I am leaving too, and I promise to never come back.” Sunggyu stated.

The words seemed to have disturbed Woohyun greatly, because he pulled Sunggyu harshly by the collar. “What did you just say? You moron, say that once again and I will break your bones!”

Sunggyu was really scared by how Woohyun was behaving. The younger had never spoken to Sunggyu like that ever before. Even if there was something Woohyun really wanted, he would either cry for it, cheat it out of Sunggyu or act cute enough to affect him. Threatening was something he had never done, and this was a threat of physical violence.

“Afraid, aren’t you?” Woohyun snarled.

Sunggyu tried to calm himself down. They were both out of their minds, and there needed to be a third party to keep them sane. They would probably kill each other like this. So he tried to get out of Woohyun’s grip, and go fetch someone.

But Woohyun pulled him harshly and threw him against the wall.

Sunggyu hissed in pain. His back hurt like a bitch, but he had no time to process that as Woohyun was leaning really close to him, his breaths falling on Sunggyu’s neck, and palms on the wall on either side of Sunggyu, trapping him.

“Where are you running?” Woohyun was looking at him straight.

If self-combusting was an option available to him, Sunggyu would have chosen that rather than facing the burning gaze of the man in front of him. He had been the one to reduce Woohyun to this state.

“Turn around.”

“Huh?”

“Your back hurts right? Did I push you too hard?” Woohyun’s gaze turned really soft and worried.

And Sunggyu was lost. Tears came out of his eyes again. He couldn’t control himself. He really missed Woohyun and seeing the younger being concerned about his back hurting, was something that took him by a surprise. Woohyun’s worried gaze, the way his brows furrowed when he was focusing on Sunggyu and the way how his demeanour changed completely from how he was seconds before, made Sunggyu realize that maybe he couldn’t try to get away from Woohyun. The younger would always worry about him and though he did not deserve it even a bit, it made him really happy.

He was probably smiling like a crazy man, and Woohyun was looking at him more concerned.

“You h-hate me right?” Sunggyu managed to say.

“Yes.” Woohyun replied, his anger returning.

“I hurt you a lot.”

“Yes.”

“Then why do you come to me? Why did you come here?” Sunggyu cried.

“Because you don’t come to me.” Woohyun complained.

“But…” Sunggyu was confused.

“You talked to and talk to everyone else, but did not contact me at all.” Woohyun buried his face in Sunggyu’s neck.

Sunggyu felt warm all of a sudden from the contact.

Woohyun rubbed his nose on the bare portion of Sunggyu’s shoulder.

It tickled Sunggyu and he tried to get away, but Woohyun placed his hands on Sunggyu’s waist and made him stay still, pressing a kiss on Sunggyu’s nape.

“Ahh” Sunggyu let out an embarrassing sound.

“Yes” Woohyun mumbled into his neck and pressed himself completely on Sunggyu.

Sunggyu couldn’t push him back. He felt really shameless, but Woohyun’s touch had the ability to make him forget everything else.

There was complete silence in the house for some minutes.

Woohyun pulled back after some time.

“Thank you. That felt nice.” Woohyun said, and he did look less miserable.

Sunggyu mentally agreed, physically he was looking down. He should be angry at himself for losing control of his thoughts, but it felt really nice, and he felt less burdened.

There were hands on his cheeks and Sunggyu was going to have a fever soon. He was feeling that hot.

Woohyun was stroking his cheeks, looking at him, and had a different kind of fire in his eyes, something which Sunggyu had never seen before. He let his fingers touch Sunggyu’s lips.

“I wonder how many people got to experience the feeling of being with you.” He mumbled, but Sunggyu still caught it.

“What do you mean?” Sunggyu asked.

“To touch you like this” He took hold of Sunggyu’s chin with his fingers. “To feel you like this” He rubbed his nose against Sunggyu’s.

His one hand was holding Sunggyu’s chin, the other hand on his waist, and his grips tightened in both places.

Sunggyu could feel the possessive aura emanating from Woohyun.

Fortunately, he came to his senses right then. Woohyun made him weak, but he couldn’t let this continue.

“That isn’t anyone’s concern. Let me go. You go back to your home now.” Sunggyu stated, avoiding Woohyun’s eyes. He wanted to seem stern but at the moment he was too affected by Woohyun’s attention on him, so he couldn’t look at him in the eyes.

His response was probably a worse one, because he could literally feel the anger radiating from Woohyun. “That is my concern! You _belong_ to me.”

“I don’t.” Sunggyu was angry now, and he was done with this completely. There had to be an end to this, or they would be both going crazy. Their mood swings weren’t helping either. “I don’t belong to anyone. I will decide things for myself and so will you. You should live your life while not thinking of me. Our lives are not dependent on each other. It is high time we both understand that and abide by that.” He looked at Woohyun now directly to get his point across. “We should stop this game of cat and mouse, and put an end to this, whatever this is. It isn’t benefiting anyone.”

“Of course I understand that. I don’t mean to say you have to listen to me all the time. I don’t get why you are twisting my words.”

“Because that’s what it is. I can’t believe you are still so obsessed with me even after one whole year of me being away from you. I left you, for fuck’s sake. Have some self-respect! What do you think? Do you even realize how bad it feels when I see you being so affected by me leaving you till now? You should have already forgotten about me by now.” It hurt Sunggyu to say that, but that was what he felt. Woohyun deserved to live his life on his terms and stop waiting for Sunggyu.

Just seconds ago Sunggyu felt really good by Woohyun being close to him, but he knew how fickle the momentary feelings were. He would go back to feeling devastated again, and so would Woohyun. There was no end to this, if they went on like this.

Woohyun looked like he had been slapped across his face.

“Of course you have someone you love right? That’s why you were…” Woohyun said, his face conveying shock. “I am sorry.” He said. He walked back, away from Sunggyu until there was considerable distance between them. “I am really sorry.” He was resisting the urge to cry, that could be seen from his expressions. “How stupid I am!” He sat down on the ground, and looked up to Sunggyu. “I just… really love you Sunggyu. I love you Sunggyu. I still love you so much hyung, I am so so sorry.” He was crying now.

Sunggyu wanted to say he loved him back. His throat was aching to let out those words. But this was his chance. This was the only chance he had to end this. He gathered all of his courage and willpower, and let out. “I am sorry Woohyun. We were never meant to be.” That did not explain anything, but Sunggyu couldn’t find it in himself to lie more.

Woohyun did not look at him again, and continued sobbing looking down.

“Stay here okay? I will ask Boohyun to come.” Sunggyu said, trying to keep the pain in his voice from slipping out. He was distraught and he was glad that Woohyun was not looking at him anymore, because one look at Sunggyu would give his feelings away.

“No.” Woohyun said. He stood up and came closer to Sunggyu. He was still not looking at him though. “You are not my lover, but you are still my Sunggyu hyung, and I care for you.”

Sunggyu wanted to tell Woohyun to shut up already, because fuck why was Woohyun being so selfless? He should be kicking Sunggyu and beating him, not still talk to him and care for him.

“You are my friend, and it is your duty to look after your heart-broken Woohyunie.” Woohyun said.

What?!

“I am staying with you here today. I won’t disturb you with my feelings again. I won’t even talk about it to your special person if you ever introduce them to me. But please just take care of me today. I miss you a lot hyung. Take care of your friend, Sunggyu. You broke my heart. Take responsibility for it. Or do you not even want to talk to me anymore?”

“Do you want to continue being friends with me Woohyun?” Sunggyu was in disbelief. He was happy that he wouldn’t have to stop talking with Woohyun. It might hurt him to see Woohyun finding a partner and him talking about that person with Sunggyu, sharing his love life with Sunggyu, but Sunggyu kind of deserved it.

“Yes.” Woohyun looked at him now.

Sunggyu could notice how broken Woohyun was but he also knew that maybe he could help Woohyun get over him. It was ironical and ridiculous, but that’s how they worked. They were a unique pair after all.

“Thank you.” Sunggyu said in the light happiness the answer gave him, and hugged Woohyun tight.

Woohyun stood still for a while, but hugged Sunggyu back soon and started crying on Sunggyu’s shoulder.

Sunggyu patted his head and stroked his hair. “I can’t even understand how you even like me.” He teased Woohyun. “You have seen me during the time when I was a lazy bastard who did not shave for weeks and looked like a caveman. You know how incredibly annoying I can get. You-”

“You are a cheater too.” Woohyun said. “A cheater who cheated on me.”

Sunggyu cursed himself. Even though this was probably the best way to end everything, this might hit Woohyun’s self-confidence even more, thinking Sunggyu went on to have a partner despite Woohyun declaring his love for him a year ago. “I am sorry.” Sunggyu murmured.

“They better be more amazing than me.” Woohyun said.

Sunggyu wasn’t sure how he was going to create a partner for himself to introduce to Woohyun, but he would think of that later. “They are not.” He replied.

“I can’t believe you would settle for someone worse than me.”

“I was desperate.” He hoped that was enough explanation and that Woohyun would stop thinking that Sunggyu left him because he thought Woohyun was not worth loving.

“Stop talking, you are making me sadder. Just stay with me.” Woohyun said.

Sunggyu hummed in reply and led Woohyun to the couch. They ended up hugging each other throughout the night, Woohyun’s face buried in Sunggyu’s chest, and Sunggyu’s chin over Woohyun’s head.

 

_Three months later_

“Where is my baby?”

Woohyun sighed as Kyungran repeated the same question for the sixteenth time.

He was keeping guard over a group of thieves who were staying too close to the Gwangju walls. The group was far way and Woohyun was only supposed to keep an eye on them using his binoculars, so despite Kyungran being annoyingly loud since the time she stumbled on him ten minutes ago, it wasn’t a problem.

“He’ll be here soon. Please don’t ask me about that again Kyungran sshi.” Woohyun adjusted his weight on the branch of the huge tree he was sitting on. There was the added weight of Kyungran on the branch sitting next to him, but the tree was strong enough to hold them both.

“Why don’t you call me eomma? I have asked you to do that before too.” Kyungran complained.

“Because I have a mom already.” Woohyun gave up on his watch and looked at her.

“And I asked your mom and she said she was fine with you calling me eomma. She said you already call many people your appa.”

“She said that?” Woohyun was surprised. He had no qualms in referring to Kyungran as eomma because she was actually really nice to talk to and had started fussing over the six of them too since they were Sunggyu’s friends. She had been visiting their village regularly since the past two months once she had settled in her hiding place. And Woohyun had gone to visit her often along with their group whenever Sunggyu felt like meeting her. So she had grown fond of the six of them, and she tried to interact with their families too, whenever she visited the village. Only Woohyun’s and Sungjong’s family knew about her as of now, but she had expressed her desire to meet the others too.

“Whatever. When are you going to start calling me eomma?” Kyungran replied.

They noticed Sunggyu jumping trees and heading towards them. “Some day I might” Woohyun said.

Kyungran looked quizzically at him and Woohyun shrugged.

Once Sunggyu was there, Kyungran kept fawning over her son, about how she was proud that he was one of the guards now, and how he looked healthy and better now but still needed to eat more.

Woohyun could feel her happiness and could understand her since Sunggyu definitely was in a better state now than how he had been when he had returned to the village.

Once Woohyun had asked Sunggyu to continue being his friend, it had taken them some time to adjust themselves to the new setting. It had taken some time for Woohyun to let it sink in that he couldn’t touch Sunggyu anymore, that he couldn’t enact any of his desires for him, with him.

It wasn’t very hard, but it took time.

When their group had returned to normalcy after some time and Sunggyu had started hanging out with them in their gatherings, Woohyun and the others had asked Sunggyu to join their group as a guard. He was a part of the group already in fact, since no one had ever discharged him from his position.

It had not taken them much time convincing him because everyone knew Sunggyu had always wanted to be a guard.

And Sunggyu was meant to be a guard, Woohyun thought, as he looked at the older who was basking in his mother’s attention and at the same time, aiming his arrow at and killing a zombie which had staggered close to the ground below the tree they were on.

Sunggyu’s gaze fell on Woohyun while his mother was checking his bag for something, and the older smiled at him.

Woohyun smiled back and switched his attention to the group he was keeping a watch on.

When it was close to sunset and after Kyungran left, the two began walking back to the village, basically jumping back to the village. They were on the forested side to the outside of the wall and did not use cycles for transport when on this side, since navigating the forest through trees was safer and easier.

The forested side had the most number of zombies since they ended up there from being washed up on the bank of the river which was close by, and hence walking on the ground in the thick forest gave unexpected surprises randomly.

As they took a rest stop at one tree quite close to the village, Woohyun took a look at Sunggyu’s injured wrist. Sunggyu was sitting snug next to him on the branch, and a sigh came from him when he realized Woohyun was taking a look at his injury.

“It’s nothing. Don’t scold me now, you too. Eomma already nagged at me a lot. I am not turning into a zombie. I just fell down while running and scraped my hand on the ground.”

The injury was small and Sunggyu’s mom had already cleaned and bandaged it properly. Woohyun brought Sunggyu’s hand up and placed a kiss on the hand right next to the bandage. “Please take more care of yourself.” He said. Woohyun noticed Sunggyu trying to hide his blush.

“I do take care of myself! Look who’s even talking!” Sunggyu pulled up Woohyun’s shirt and it was Woohyun’s turn to blush with the suddenness of the situation.

“What are you doing?!” Woohyun exclaimed.

Sunggyu pointed to a spot on Woohyun’s stomach. “See it hasn’t even healed! You hurt yourself a week ago and that was so big compared to the scratch I have.”

“That’s your fault.” Woohyun said.

“How?” Sunggyu asked.

“You did not kiss it better so it hasn’t healed yet.”

Sunggyu seemed out of words, and Woohyun pulled down his shirt and pouted.

“Of course you only pretend to worry for me and don’t do anything-”

“Yah!” Sunggyu stopped him, “I worry for you too.”

“I don’t think so.” Woohyun continued pouting, and turned away, crawling to the inner side of the huge branch, and leaning against the bark of the tree, his legs hanging on the either side of the branch.

Sunggyu followed him, and sat in front of him. “Really? I am sorry. I’ll care for you more.” Sunggyu looked really guilty, and looked down in apology, biting his lower lip.

If Woohyun didn’t know better, he would have thought Sunggyu was attempting to seduce him. If there was one area Woohyun had managed to improve in the past months, it was in his ability to control himself in front of Sunggyu. But sometimes, it became too much. Woohyun let out a sigh and brought Sunggyu’s palm in his hand (the one with the injury), placing a kiss next to the injury and on top of it again. Holding the palm in his hands, he continued placing soft kisses all over it.

“Hyun” Sunggyu called out.

Woohyun stopped, and looked at Sunggyu demandingly. “I am not going to do this again, so I expect you to take better care of yourself.”

“You really think you doing that would help me heal faster? Pabo!” Sunggyu scolded him.

“Hyung is a pabo!” Woohyun stuck his tongue out and looked away from him.

Sunggyu laughed. “Come on now, stop acting childish. We should leave now. The others must have already reached.”

“You go. I will follow after some time.” Woohyun pouted.

“Why? What are you going to do here?” Sunggyu asked curiously.

“That’s not your concern.”

“It may not be, but you are coming with me now.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No. No. No. No.”

“Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.”

“No. Never.”

“You… little shit” Sunggyu muttered. He tried to pull up Woohyun, but Woohyun had his ass planted firmly to the branch.

Woohyun was actually having fun seeing Sunggyu frustrated like that. He became all red, and was acting really cute, sulking for not getting what he wanted- classic Sunggyu behaviour.

Sunggyu suddenly had a determined gaze, and Woohyun started feeling scared for his life.

The older sat down in front of Woohyun, coming close and close to him.

Woohyun gulped, and when Sunggyu was really close to him, Woohyun realized he was holding on his breathing, so he released a breath.

“You will have to come with me.” Sunggyu said impatiently.

And before Woohyun could wonder how Sunggyu hoped to convince him, his shirt was being lifted up, and Sunggyu was bending down.

Woohyun could feel something soft pressing on his stomach, and he realized Sunggyu was kissing over his fading injury. He placed a palm over his mouth to stop himself from letting out noises, since this was making him feel really flustered.

Sunggyu was still there. Woohyun couldn’t see his face, since the older was almost hidden under his shirt, but the feeling of those soft lips on his body made him feel hot, and giddy.

It was a bit ticklish, and Sunggyu’s lips were moving slowly over Woohyun’s stomach, breaths leaving warm puffs too. Woohyun was embarrassed and almost squeaked out Sunggyu’s name, but…

A cough came from next to them. And Sunggyu pulled away from him quickly.

They both turned to their side at the same time, to find Myungsoo standing on the tree next to them, with a smirk on his face.

“Don’t mind me, continue please.” Myungsoo said.

Woohyun wanted to half strangle Myungsoo and half hug him in joy, since Sunggyu was blushing really badly and the sight was too cute.

Not that Woohyun was any better. He was feeling really embarrassed too.

“What are you doing here?” Woohyun asked Myungsoo, when he had regained his senses.

“I was just passing by from here.”

“Oh okay.”

“Hyung are you…having kids?”

Woohyun was flabbergasted. “What?!”

“I thought you were having babies, since Sunggyu hyung was giving you lots of care there.” Myungsoo pointed to Woohyun’s stomach.

“What the fuck? That doesn’t even make sense?” Woohyun shouted.

“Myungsoo are you a zombie? Are you brainless now?” Sunggyu asked, anger slipping out from his tone.

Myungsoo looked a bit scared. “Oh. I understand. _Sunggyu hyung_ is supposed to be having babies. So hyung is the bottom.” He said, as if that made complete sense.

“Kim Myung Soo. Human males. don’t. carry. babies. Do I need to send you to school again?” Sunggyu threatened him.

Myungsoo burst out into a laugh. “I am sorry, but it was too funny. I’ll stop before you both kill me. But you guys are really fun to tease.” He was laughing uncontrollably after that.

Woohyun couldn’t find it in himself to hit him for laughing like that, because Myungsoo was too adorable at the moment. He would hit him once they reached home, he decided.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's your favourite character?


	8. 07. hell

 

 

 

The night sky was illuminated with stars and constellations. The view of the village from the top was surreal, small little lights burning in the darkness of the night.

Woohyun found himself mesmerized at the experience. The cold air made him tremble with the need for warmth and he received it soon in the form of arms around him.

He wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

He was sitting on top of the hill at the west corner of the village, the hill which Sunggyu frequented regularly when he couldn’t sleep. Woohyun had been asking the older since a long time whether he could accompany him, but Sunggyu had always found one or the other way to say no in reply.

But tonight, when the three of them, Sunggyu, Woohyun and Myungsoo, had entered the village limits, Sunggyu had asked Woohyun if he was free and would accompany Sunggyu.

Woohyun had been surprised at the sudden proposal but had agreed and Myungsoo had wished them goodnight with a warm smile.

Now as Woohyun sat at the edge of the hill, looking towards their village and the sky, Sunggyu was hugging him from behind, and Woohyun wanted the moment to go on forever.

“Woohyun ah” Sunggyu said, close to his ear.

“Hmmm” Woohyun replied.

“Let’s go inside, shall we?”

 

 

 

The feeling of nervousness consumed Sunggyu, as Woohyun inspected the cabin.

There was no need to feel nervous, but Sunggyu couldn’t help but wait for Woohyun to react to his handicraft.

Sunggyu had spent his free time in the past months building up the cabin at the hill. It was a really small thing, but he had been visiting the hill quite frequently, and realized that he could after all make something comfortable to stay in there.

After obtaining all the necessary permissions, Sunggyu had started constructing the place. He took help from Dongwoo and Hoya occasionally, but no one else bothered to look around in the area, except for the guards guarding the place, who would just scan the area for issues and leave.

It was the first time, Sunggyu was bringing Woohyun to the place, and there was an exciting feeling in his stomach as Woohyun looked around the small place.

Sunggyu had filled the cabin with a storage cabinet for books, medicines and weapons, built a small fireplace, and placed two chairs and a study along with a mattress on the floor. There were no personal stuff in there yet, since he had only finished with the work on the cabin two days ago, but there was one sketch of his with his family on the study table, and one of Sunggyu with his six friends next to it.

Woohyun took both the frames in his hands, and looked at them.

Sunggyu waited for the younger to finish his inspection, and sat down on the carpet next to the door.

“Your mom looks young here.” Woohyun said, placing the frames back on to the table.

“She was young then.” Sunggyu said, as Woohyun came to him and sat next to him, some distance between them.

“I can’t believe I never came across that before.” Woohyun said.

“I kept it well hidden.” Sunggyu replied, and turned to face Woohyun.

“Like you hid many other things.” Woohyun let out.

The younger’s mood turned gloomy and Sunggyu wanted to change the topic. “Do you like this? I spent a long time building this place.”

“It’s good.” Woohyun commented, and the conversation died down.

They both stayed silent, and Sunggyu wanted to say something, anything to cut the pin drop silence, but before he could spit out some nonsense, Woohyun spoke up.

“So you brought me here to show me this?”

“Um yes.” Sunggyu replied.

“So you will be staying here from now on?” Woohyun asked.

“No. I come here regularly, so I figured instead of staying outside in the night time, this would be more comfortable and safe.”

“Okay.” Woohyun said.

Sunggyu had a lot to say. The real reason why Sunggyu had asked Woohyun to accompany him was because he wanted to talk about a lot of things with Woohyun, but he did not know where to start, and how to start.

“I think I should leave now.” Woohyun got up. “You wouldn’t want me to disturb your sleep.”

“Wait!” Sunggyu got up too soon, and caught hold of Woohyun’s arm. “Stay, please.” He requested.

 

 

 

The rays of the sun entered the cabin, and Woohyun brought Sunggyu closer, so that the older wouldn’t wake up from the light hitting his eyes.

The two were lying on the mattress snuggled against each other. Woohyun had his arm over Sunggyu, while Sunggyu’s head was pressed against Woohyun’s chest. It was difficult being the big spoon as the smaller person, but Woohyun was used to it. He massaged Sunggyu’s back and the area under Sunggyu’s hair on the backside of his neck.

The older let out content sighs in sleep, and murmured random nonsense.

Woohyun was tempted to kiss him to shut that mouth, but he couldn’t do that and he also found it endearing, so he continued gazing at Sunggyu’s face.

Last night had been pretty talkative and involved many revelations from Sunggyu’s side. After the older had asked Woohyun to stay, the two had relocated to the mattress for comfort.

Sunggyu had started with apologizing for all the mistakes he had made.

He had explained why he had not informed them before leaving and why he had not told them about his mission. And why he had never informed them about his mother. The reasons for most of his apologies were that he hadn’t wanted to burden them with his problems.

That had angered Woohyun a lot. He had tried to keep a check on his feelings though, because he had wanted to know more, and Sunggyu seemed to be willing to reveal everything.

Why it angered Woohyun was that, all these years whenever he was in a troublesome situation, he would go to Sunggyu, and talk with him about it, seek comfort. Similarly Sunggyu would come to him too, but the older had never talked about these problems. It had made Woohyun feel betrayed.

He had kept the feelings inside him though and had waited for Sunggyu to continue. Sunggyu also explained how he had wanted to be the head guard, and was hoping for that, because if he could become one, he would have been able to use the team for his use, and he would have used the team to keep his mom in hiding among other things. He could have officially used the guard team for his mom’s protection, without having to leave the village.

And Woohyun had not been able to control himself on hearing that. He had run away from the cabin, and returned only half an hour later, after calming down. It had made him feel so stupid and worthless. Sunggyu could have asked them to allow him to win the head guard position. Woohyun would have sacrificed it if he had known all of this, but no, Sunggyu had wanted to win it on his own merit, and not steal the position from Woohyun.

That really hurt Woohyun a lot, because it meant Sunggyu still did not understand the depth of Woohyun’s feelings for him. That was the main conclusion Woohyun had reached at after Sunggyu had laid out all of his secrets.

The older believed that if he stayed away from Woohyun, Woohyun might be able to live a happier life. But he couldn’t be more wrong.

Woohyun had been in love with Sunggyu since long, very long. He had only realized his feelings for the older around two years ago, but he had been in love much before that.

Kim Sunggyu meant a lot to him. Sunggyu was stubborn, lazy and bossy. But Sunggyu was also caring, loving and Woohyun’s best friend. Woohyun had always considered Dongwoo as Sunggyu’s best friend, however for Woohyun, Sunggyu had been and was still his best friend.

Even if Woohyun knew Sunggyu did not share his worries with him, he would still want to go to Sunggyu for advice, to talk about his problems. Woohyun relied on Sunggyu a lot. And he also loved Sunggyu a lot.

Even the simplest of things relating to the older, brought him happiness. How Sunggyu would rub his eyes when he would wake up, his voice as he would sing Woohyun to sleep sometimes, how he would get needy for Woohyun in the most random of times, his smile, there were a whole lot of things Woohyun loved about Sunggyu.

And despite how they kept their distance with each other in the past few months, despite it having been around close to one and a half year since they had been intimate, despite Woohyun having discovered that Sunggyu was still not aware of how deep Woohyun had fallen for him, Woohyun’s heart still belonged to one man.

When Sunggyu was done with his explanations, they had decided to go to sleep and continue talking the day after, since it was a holiday for them.

Sunggyu had fallen asleep almost immediately next to Woohyun, and Woohyun found himself staring at Sunggyu.

Sometime later, Sunggyu woke up briefly and realized Woohyun was still not asleep, so he kissed him on the forehead and asked him to sleep already, and then Woohyun did not wake up for some hours after that.

 

 

 

They spent almost the entire day with each other.

Woohyun had a feeling that Sunggyu was spending time with him only because he was feeling apologetic, but Woohyun was not going to let go of any chance, especially after Sunggyu had revealed to him that he had in fact, not being seeing anyone in the past year. He had only accepted Woohyun’s idea that he had found someone special, because he had wanted to keep Woohyun away from him.

And though Woohyun had an idea that his initial conclusion had been wrong, which is why he had continued with his small gestures of affection towards the older, but now that he had received confirmation that Sunggyu was single, he was not going to hold back at all.

He had tried to get as close to Sunggyu as possible throughout the day. They spent time walking through the forest on the hill, sitting by the lake nearby, and lazing out at the cabin. And Woohyun would hold Sunggyu’s hands, make him sit on his lap, or hug him whenever he got the chance. Sunggyu did not reject his advances, but he did not even comment on it.

Though Woohyun was not too worried about that since Sunggyu would blush every time Woohyun would cling to him, and would have a small smile on his face.

Woohyun was not really sure how he was supposed to improve their relationship, but he was sure he still needed Sunggyu, and that he would never let go of him again.

 

 

 

Things were going quite well, and Sunggyu was glad he had been able to share his worries with Woohyun.

The younger had clung to him more than usual, and had almost crossed the boundaries they had set in the past months, but Sunggyu couldn’t find in himself to ask him to stop. Woohyun’s touches always comforted him, and his body had still not forgotten the feeling of Woohyun’s body.

There were times he was almost about to jump on Woohyun, but self-control was something he had learnt in the past year.

Maybe one day in the future, they would be able to actually love each other.

Sunggyu was still not sure of that. He loved Woohyun a whole lot, but Woohyun could probably find someone better to spend his life with. And Sunggyu did not want to bind Woohyun to him.

So he was content with how things were. He hoped to continue as friends with Woohyun, and see how things shape up in the future.

That Woohyun had listened to Sunggyu’s explanations calmly made Sunggyu realize that the younger had matured a lot. It made him happy because Woohyun’s happiness mattered the most to him, and a mature Woohyun would also try to calmly pursue his happiness, and know how to take care of himself.

Sunggyu need not worry about the love of his life anymore.

 

 

 

Oh how wrong he was.

 

 

 

The door opened to his house, and Sungyeol got up from the bed, to notice an exhausted Myungsoo step inside. He went to him and hugged him tight.

“Baby how is Sunggyu hyung?” Sungyeol asked, concern dripping out of his voice.

Myungsoo let out a sigh, and brought Sungyeol to face him. “He isn’t speaking to anyone. He’s not doing well, and I had to force him to eat.”

Sungyeol felt himself tearing up, and Myungsoo hugged him as if sensing that. Sungyeol spoke up. “Woo… hyun… he’s still silent and keeps on crying again and again. I made him sleep for some hours, but he’s not holding up well Soo.”

“I will look after him tomorrow. You go to Sunggyu hyung. Is that fine?”

“No. I don’t want to see him at all. How could he do that to Woohyun?” Sungyeol cried.

“He must have his reasons, Yeol. We can’t take any side in this. Both are our friends, and I would rather have both be apart than stay together and be sad.”

“Is there no solution to this?” Sungyeol asked. “I want them to get together.”

“Sunggyu hyung rejected Woohyun. We can’t force him to accept him, can we?” Myungsoo reasoned out.

Sungyeol agreed, but was still not quite convinced.

 

 

 

Woohyun was returning from his short trip to the nearby village. On his way back near the exit of the village, was a nursery where he came across a bunch of beautiful flowers growing together.

There were a variety of them and they all looked lovely. He decided to take some home as souvenir. He picked up what he thought would suit his family and friends individually the best- a daisy for Dongwoo, a sunflower for Sungyeol, a hibiscus for Sungjong. His gaze stopped at the roses. There were many roses in various colours, but the red rose was all beautifully and elegantly beckoning to him. He laughed at the notion and walked away.

How was he supposed to trust the red rose anymore?

He had proposed to Sunggyu three weeks ago with the red rose. A month after Sunggyu had come out to him with his apologies, the two had adjusted to each other well, so much so that Woohyun had been too hopeful for his love to be reciprocated.

He had dressed up in his best clothes, and armed with the ring and the red rose, he had proposed to Sunggyu in his cabin.

And his hopes had all been quashed, when Sunggyu had rejected him.

It was the third time Sunggyu had rejected him.

Firstly, when Woohyun had gone to look out for Sunggyu when he had left them and when Woohyun had first confessed his love to Sunggyu, he had been rejected then. Then when Sunggyu had been trying to escape the village again, Woohyun had confessed his love with the song, and when after Sunggyu had been hurt. Sunggyu had not responded to his confessions then.

And this time, the older had straight out rejected him.

Woohyun would have learned to live with it, but then Sunggyu had explained the rejection with the reason that he liked Woohyun too but he wanted the best for Woohyun. And Sunggyu was not the best choice for Woohyun at the moment. He explained that maybe one day they could be together, but Woohyun could easily find someone else now to live his life with, and should not be wasting his time with Sunggyu who would only cause him sadness.

And Woohyun agreed with that. Sunggyu had only caused him sadness in the past two years. Sunggyu would refuse to accept that Woohyun loved him, and would continually reject Woohyun’s love for him, as if Woohyun’s love was worthless, as if Woohyun did not love him more than he loved himself.

And that, had tired Woohyun. He had been exhausted of Sunggyu being dense, of Sunggyu rejecting him. So he had walked away from the man. He had walked away from his love. And never looked back.

He had cried for days after that about his sick life, about not receiving what he wanted the most- love from his Sunggyu.

After he was done with being sad for himself, he had given up his head guard position and signed up as the messenger for the village. His family was used to his emotional breakdowns now, and they had even stopped talking with Sunggyu just like Woohyun had. Woohyun had not asked them that, but everyone knew that Woohyun’s state was a result of Sunggyu rejecting him, so even though his family still probably cared for Sunggyu, they were not exactly happy with him.

His friends still kept in touch with Sunggyu, they had no reason not to. Sunggyu was still their friend. The only difference was they wouldn’t hang out all together anymore.

And Woohyun, he had adjusted with his new life. It was disappointing, but he was also excited with the prospect of travelling to new places every day. It kept him away from depressing thoughts.

Not a single person was delighted with his career change, because messenger work was more dangerous than a guard’s job. Messengers had to travel to all places, friendly and hostile alike, and there was no guarantee you would return back. Only people desperate for a job, or people who were sick of their lives like Woohyun, signed up for it.

His family and friends had tried to convince him against it, but Woohyun was sure there was nothing that could keep him from being depressed anymore. The guard job was not meant for him anymore. It tied him to a lot of things, which he would like to stay away from actually.

And so he was now returning from his mission to deliver a letter to the nearby village. The mission had been a success, considering the leaders there have been at a cold war with the Gwangju settlement since a long time. But Woohyun had managed to convince them that their village head was interested in collaborating for resources, and he had received a favourable reply to that.

It made him feel accomplished and he rode on his bicycle towards home with a free mind.

As night came, he took shelter in the terrace of an abandoned and broken house and set out again, at dawn.

Just as the huge walls of the village came to his sight, after he had crossed the mountains, a shrill cry startled him.

He stopped his cycle and climbed a tree nearby.

The cries grew louder and he could hear shouts of ‘Help’ in the air. He frantically scanned the surroundings and sighted some zombies trying to get to someone who was hanging from the branch of a tree some distance away.

The branch was at a considerable height, but it looked like it would break soon and there were about fifteen zombies waiting to tear apart the person who was about to fall.

As Woohyun ran sneakily closer, he noticed that it was a young girl who was stuck there and she was still crying for help. He jumped out into the open and shouted at the zombies.

Some of them turned towards him at the noise, and the rest too turned at the commotion. Soon all of them were chasing him as he was a meal at a closer distance.

Woohyun ran and ran until he had led them far away. Then he took a detour and returned to the site where the girl had been.

She wasn’t there anymore, and Woohyun was really worried. He tried to look here and there, because he had to save her somehow. Even if she had escaped on her own, it wasn’t safe for her to be moving alone. She would become one of the zombies soon.

But even after five minutes there was no success, so he went to his bike and decided to leave. It would only get more dangerous if he stayed there, as it would only take a matter of time for a horde of fifteen zombies to attract more and become a horde of hundred. And Woohyun wasn’t capable to handle that.

Just as he was about to sit on his bike, there was a pull on his pant leg, and he was about to cut off the head of the zombie, but he decided to pull away before killing the newcomer off, and it was a good thing he had not attacked, because it was the girl who was standing behind him, staring at him nervously.

She was wearing casual shirt and pants, and had her hair up in a bun. She was probably around 7-8 years old, and Woohyun felt sorry for her. He wondered why such a small girl was outside without protection instead of being settled in any of the villages. But he was still wary of her.

“Are you alone?” He asked.

The girl nodded in reply.

“Do you have anywhere to go?”

She shook her head.

“Did they bite you?” He asked.

“No.” She answered meekly.

There was no way he could confirm that without getting close to her, and he couldn’t take that risk.

“You see that house there?” He pointed to the ruin of a house nearby. “Stay there for some time. I’ll have to check if you are really not bitten; and if you are not, I can take you with me.”

Her demeanour changed with that completely. She started sobbing and Woohyun was not sure about what to do. He wanted to go to her and tell her it was alright, but he wasn’t yet sure if she was bitten or not. Also her crying would attract the undead.

“Shhh” He gestured her to keep low, and she did keep her voice low. “What is the matter?” He asked.

“My m-mom” She hiccupped. “She became one of them and s-she is inside t-that pla-place.”

Woohyun’s heart broke at that, and he could feel his eyes watering too. So he walked to her and embraced her in a hug. It had been well over two minutes since he had started talking to her, and the longest time people take to turn into a mindless zombie once bitten is two minutes, so she had to be safe now and Woohyun was relieved. It had been a long time since he had seen a human turn into a zombie and that was one of the painful aspects of living in this world.

The girl seemed surprised at the sudden gesture but stopped crying completely.

A moan came from the trees to the right of them, and Woohyun was alert. He brought her to his bike. “Sit on here, and hold on to me tight.” He pointed to the backseat of his bicycle.

She obeyed and Woohyun rode off before they could be sighted.

 

 

 

The ride back home was not easy. The girl fell off from the backseat once due to weakness, and Woohyun had to stop and look after her for some minutes. A group of around ten zombies had attacked them then and they had managed to survive barely. Woohyun was all covered with bruises and viral blood on his clothes, but he managed to not get bitten while looking after the girl at the same time.

Once they arrived safely in Gwangju, Woohyun checked her in and brought her to his house. His new house was near the tenth wall, quite close to the inner side. He had decided to live there since it would be convenient to meet both his friends and family if he lived there.

After changing into clean clothes and feeding the girl some food and water, he tried to get some information from her. She was very open to him. Her name was Dahyun, he learnt. She was nine years old, and used to live with her mother in one of the villages in the Northern part of Korea, erstwhile North Korea. The settlements there were not quite well off, and many people lived in poverty there.

Dahyun’s mother had been banished from their settlement for some reason and so they had been travelling to the South to look for shelter. But today, her mom had died while trying to save her.

Dahyun cried again as she was reminded of her mom, and Woohyun was really sorry for her. He loved his mom too much and he could understand how terrible it must be for the little girl to lose her mom, and that too for her to turn into a zombie in front of her own eyes.

Woohyun brought her in his embrace and though Dahyun seemed shy at first, Woohyun assured her that he was her friend and she need not fear him. She accepted it and cried next to him for a long time.

“What’s your name, oppa?” She asked him after she had calmed down.

“Oppa’s a hyun too! I am Woohyun oppa, Dahyunnie.” Woohyun tried to cheer her up with a wide smile, and Dahyun returned a small smile too finally, and Woohyun decided he had to protect her.

Woohyun took her to his family home and asked his mom to help her with new clothes and stuff.

He took some time off to clean himself too since he was filled with grime and dirt from the journey.

As he stepped out of the shower stalls, he heard Sungyeol’s loud voice coming from outside, talking to another person with a voice he recognized very well. So he stepped back in.

Sungyeol and his companion probably presumed that the stalls were empty since they were actually talking quite loudly. The stalls were in fact, empty, since Woohyun had been the only one occupying one of those, but now he kept quiet to prevent being detected.

“Hyung, I can’t tell him that!” Sungyeol shouted.

Woohyun wondered what and whom Sungyeol was talking about. His heart beat increased pace when the other person spoke up in reply.

“You have to. Or I am not talking to you anymore.” Sunggyu said in reply.

Woohyun was hoping they would speak more clearly on their topic of conversation since he couldn’t really guess what they were talking about. And he was dying to know, since Sunggyu seemed agitated and Sungyeol was adamant about not doing whatever Sunggyu was asking him to do.

“Hyung, you do realize right, that you have no right to say anything about whatever Woohyun hyung does anymore?” Sungyeol said.

They were talking about Woohyun?

Either Sunggyu had not replied or his reply was not heard by Woohyun.

“I know he’s been risking his life too much these days.” Sungyeol continued. “But he’s been living at least. And I am happy hyung is still alive.” Sungyeol’s voice came out broken. “He was really devastated because of y-you re-rejecting him. Now he’s doing something, and I am fine with whatever he’s doing.”

Woohyun felt a strong sense of affection for Sungyeol from how he was defending him, and anger at Sunggyu for whatever he was making Sungyeol do.

Finally Sunggyu spoke though. And Woohyun had to clamp his hands over his mouth to not break into sobbing himself.

“Sungyeol please”

Sunggyu’s voice was really broken and the way he spoke, Woohyun could very well identify his current emotional state from his tone. And… Sunggyu was probably having it worse than him, Woohyun realized.

“I can’t bear to lose him. The guards told me he was in a bad condition when he entered the wall. They almost thought he was a zombie. And I have heard about how he’s taking risky jobs.” There was silence for some time, then Sunggyu burst out, “Why is he doing this Sungyeol?! Does he not care about himself?”

Woohyun was angry that Sunggyu was acting concerned for him. If Sunggyu was really that concerned, he wouldn’t have ever led Woohyun into believing that he loved Woohyun and then go on to reject him. If Sunggyu did not like Woohyun, Woohyun would have never felt this bad. But he knew Sunggyu liked him, even Sunggyu said that. Even though Sunggyu never said about loving him (Woohyun was even sure at one point that Sunggyu hated him since the older had tried to avoid him so much), but yet he knew Sunggyu liked him enough to give him one chance. And Woohyun felt so betrayed that even though Sunggyu liked him, he did not consider it worth giving Woohyun even once chance to prove he could love him.

“Woohyun hyung knows what’s good for him. I am not going to tell him to stop being a messenger.” Sungyeol replied.

Oh so Sunggyu wanted him to stop doing the job. Now Woohyun wouldn’t even consider quitting.

“You have to Sungyeol.” Sunggyu said.

“No.” Sungyeol stated.

“Okay. Do whatever you want!” Sunggyu seemed frustrated. “I won’t be here anyway after a few days.”

Wait what?

“You are not going anywhere Sunggyu hyung.” Sungyeol said.

“Oh no. I already told you about this a week ago right? The decision’s final and I am leaving.” Sunggyu said.

Sunggyu was leaving? Again? Woohyun wanted to storm out and kick Sunggyu to his senses but Sungyeol was there to do it for him.

“Ouch” Sunggyu exclaimed.

“You are not going anywhere.” Sungyeol ordered.

“I’ll see what you’ll do to stop me. There’s nothing that can stop me.” Sunggyu challenged him.

“Why are you doing this hyung? You are only causing us more pain.” Sungyeol cried.

“Yes. _I_ am the one causing pain. Once I am out of the equation, all of you will be happy again. I feel like killing myself here every day Yeol.” Sunggyu’s voice turned grim. “To see him like that risking his life because of something I did, it causes me immense pain. I can’t tolerate it. I am sorry.”

It had been many days since Woohyun had last cried, but now he found himself wanting to cry again. Why was Sunggyu so stupid?

“Hyung, Woohyun loves you. He loves you a lot.” Sungyeol said. “I don’t know why you rejected him like that. It could have saved us from all of this pain.”

“He doesn’t love me Sungyeol.” Sunggyu said, and Woohyun wanted to curse out loudly and probably go bang his head at the hardest place.

“Why would he lie to you?” Sungyeol asked incredulously.

“I know he cares for me a lot. He must have been devastated when I left and confused his pain that time as love for me.”

“No?” Sungyeol argued. “He had already planned to propose to you before that.”

There was silence at that, but then Sunggyu spoke. “It isn’t as much about him not loving me, as much as it is about our compatibility. Sungyeol, do you think I don’t know how much I have hurt him by rejecting? I know of course. I understand him that much. But I am not what he deserves. Sungyeol, Woohyun is an angel. He deserves someone who would love him and give him all the happiness he wants. I have given him nothing but sadness in the past years. If I had never left, maybe I could have loved Woohyun properly, but I have already once chosen to protect my mom over being with him.”

“Yes, but that was a mistake. You realize that now, don’t you? You shouldn’t have left us?” Sungyeol replied.

“No I would have still left. Then I did not know the situation was going to be easier, that the government would not be on high alert search for my mom. So I would have left anyway, because Woohyun would want to come with me and stay in hiding forever. He cares for me a lot. I know that Sungyeol. He’s done so much for me. I don’t want him to waste his life for me ever.”

“But what if he wants to do that?”

“Why would he waste his life for me?” Sunggyu asked confused.

“Because he loves you hyung! Why is it so hard for you to understand? He cares for you so much because he loves you hyung. He does things for you because he wants to. He becomes happy when you are happy. I understand that because I care for Myungsoo the same way. You always want the person you love to be happy. Isn’t that the case for you too? You want Woohyun to be happy, don’t you? Then why don’t you understand that Woohyun wants you to be happy too? He would do anything to make you happy.”

“That is not a good goal.” Sunggyu was sobbing, and Woohyun was almost about to unlock the stall door and go outside, but he did not want the conversation to stop. He prayed no one else entered the stall now. He really wanted to know why Sunggyu thought his happiness was not a good goal.

“Why?” Sungyeol, doing god’s work, asked.

“Because I am not meant to deserve happiness.”

Sungyeol cursed out loud and Woohyun was thankful for that because he had cursed too and Sungyeol’s curse covered him.

“Sunggyu hyung, you deserve to be happy.” Sungyeol seemed teary too, and Woohyun wanted to give the younger a big hug. Sungyeol had to bear with Woohyun’s nonsense too on a daily basis, and here, Sunggyu was giving him more bullshit to deal with.

“I don’t. I have only caused y… you p-pain.” Sunggyu hiccupped. Woohyun felt tears dropping from his own eyes. He clutched his chest in agony. Sunggyu continued. “Hyung was meant to look after you kids. You were my precious little baby brothers.” Sunggyu said, and Woohyun could hear Sungyeol crying. “But I left you, thinking that would be good for you, but it still caused you unbearable pain, and I came back to make you more sad, and not a single of you are happy anymore, and Woohyun is there out there playing with his life. If you think I deserve an ounce of happiness, you are wrong.” Sunggyu let out.

“So stop doing mistakes hyung” Sungyeol tried to convince him. “You still love Woohyun hyung right? Go apologize to him. I don’t need your apology, but hyung does. He’s been heart-broken for too long. And you can heal him. He needs that.”

“He won’t love me once he realizes how pathetic I am Sungyeol!” Sunggyu cried. “And he won’t want to leave me once I agree to be with him. Even if he would not want anything to do with me, he would still pretend to love me, because he is that kind of person Sungyeol. He cares for me a bit too much. I don’t want to bind him to me. He will realize one day that he doesn’t love me and-”

“Stop it hyung. You can’t assume things.” Sungyeol said.

Woohyun unlocked the door. He was about to go give Sunggyu a big damn lecture on how he was the world’s stupidest person for thinking Woohyun would stop loving him some day. If Woohyun hadn’t yet stopped loving him even after being rejected so many times, why would he ever do that in the future?

But he opened the door only to find a teary Sungyeol looking shocked at him, and no presence of Sunggyu anywhere. The older had already ran away.

 

 

 

After Woohyun was done comforting Sungyeol, he came home to find Boohyun trying to pacify a crying Dahyun.

Woohyun’s mood lifted up on seeing her and he extended his arms to her asking her to give him a hug. She came running to him, and once Woohyun asked Dahyun to thank Boohyun for looking after her and once she did that, Woohyun spent the evening comforting her.

Being with her was healing, because Woohyun realized his pain wasn’t bigger compared to the little girl. Yet she was so strong and had managed to survive. Dahyun had lost her mom, whereas in Woohyun’s case, Sunggyu was still alive. Even though the older was being irrational, he was still alive, and Woohyun couldn’t imagine a world without Kim Sunggyu.

People would probably call him crazy for still caring so much about a person who wanted nothing to do with him, yet Woohyun wanted his Sunggyu to be happy. Because even if Sunggyu always rejected him, the older cared for him a lot too, and Woohyun knew it. Woohyun had quit only because he couldn’t handle any more of the rejections.

He would probably never have tried to ask Sunggyu to return his love again.

But now… there was something burning inside him. He had given up, totally defeated, but knowing how Sunggyu felt, made him want the older to know that Woohyun did love him. He wanted Sunggyu to know how much he loved him.

And he was determined.

 

 

 

Woohyun requested Dahyun to sleep over at his family home since he was busy for the night. She seemed really upset and asked Woohyun why he was crying too before.

She must have noticed Woohyun crying when he was thinking about Sunggyu.

He answered her that he had a fight with his friend, and now he was going to talk to his friend. She seemed satisfied with his answer and wished him luck.

Woohyun gave her a kiss on the cheek and promised to return in the morning. He hoped his cute angel actually was lucky, since luck was needed for the absurdity he was going to do.

 

 

 

Myungsoo had just left his place after wishing Sunggyu goodnight. Sunggyu pitied the myungyeol couple. They took turns looking after him since Sungjong was now the head guard and had a lot of responsibilities since the sixteenth team now contained only five people. The maknae wasn’t free to babysit Sunggyu. Dongwoo and Hoya had their own couple tension going on and Sunggyu was such a bad friend he did not even know why the two were fighting. So that left the myungyeol couple, and they took turns in looking after Sunggyu.

Sunggyu was actually glad that he was alone for the night. The first few days he had been numb since Woohyun’s dejected face when Sunggyu had rejected him had been too much to handle. He had learnt how devastated Woohyun had been, and it had sent him into a state of shock.

During the day time, there would be someone or the other looking after Sunggyu, and his friends trusted Sunggyu slept like a good boy during night.

The first few nights Sunggyu had cried like crazy. He had even fainted, and woken up only when Sungyeol had come to wake him up in the morning. After a week, he had been better, but then he had learnt that Woohyun had taken up the job of being the messenger, and that kept Sunggyu up at night.

Sunggyu had given up his guard job the day he had rejected Woohyun itself. He had wanted Woohyun to stay in his position, but the younger had quit too.

The luckiest thing was that his mom had not been able to visit him at all after the fiasco since the government had been scanning this side of the country for resources, so she had to remain hidden. Sunggyu had been keeping in contact with her through letters which his friends passed, and it had been easy to lie to her in writing about why he was not able to meet her at her place.

He gave up on writing his reply to her previous letter, and stepped out of his cabin. His outburst in front of Sungyeol today had been relieving actually. He had been able to let his concerns out loud. Though Sungyeol had tried to convince him that Woohyun would never stop loving him, Sunggyu was still adamant about his position.

His judgement was more clouded by the fact that he had been in a one sided love with the younger for years. He was used to his love not being reciprocated, and it was actually unbelievable that Woohyun loved him as much as his actions conveyed.

Sunggyu understood Woohyun well, he could understand how much Woohyun meant what he meant, which is why it was all the more baffling, whenever Woohyun would try to come closer to him, because his actions conveyed nothing but love for Sunggyu and Sunggyu was not ready to believe it.

He wondered what the future held in store for him, whether he actually had a future.

He thought back to everything Sungyeol had told him earlier and realized that if he accepted it, his life would become easier. But did Woohyun really love Sunggyu as much Sunggyu loved him?

Sunggyu looked around at the trees surrounding him, and wondered how happy his life would have been had his tree been around here too. The months he had spent alongside Woohyun as a part of his guard team was precious too, and Sunggyu forever wanted to treasure those memories.

He closed his eyes, sighing, and opened them after a while.

What?

Woohyun was standing in front of him, at the place where no one had been moments ago.

He closed his eyes in disbelief, and opened them again to find the younger at the same place.

“What?” Sunggyu mumbled, as Woohyun walked closer to him, and stopped right in front of him.

His mind could not come up with the right words to frame a proper sentence. Woohyun was standing in front of him, and it had been quite a long time since Sunggyu had last seen him. Sunggyu’s eyes roamed all over the younger’s body to look if his bruises had been treated. His gaze moved to Woohyun’s eyes, and the fire in them made Sunggyu nervous.

“What are you doing here?” He asked finally.

“I am here to offer you a proposition.” Woohyun replied.

Woohyun looked too confident for someone who was supposed to be hurt. Yes, Sunggyu could see the pain behind the mask of confidence, yet it made Sunggyu wonder what the reason for Woohyun’s boldness was.

“I overheard your conversation earlier with Sungyeol.”

Sunggyu was confused. He had had many conversations with Sungyeol today. Was he talking about…

The younger clarified. “The one where you doubted my love.”

That was not good. Sunggyu wondered where Woohyun had been, to have overheard them. But that did not matter. What mattered was Sunggyu had spoken his heart out to Sungyeol and Woohyun had heard every word of it probably. Which meant that Woohyun now knew how insecure Sunggyu was.

“So I have a proposal for you.”

“What is it?” Sunggyu asked.

Woohyun leaned forward until he was in Sunggyu’s personal space.

Sunggyu was trembling as Woohyun’s scent invaded his senses.

“I will give up my current job.”

What?!

Sunggyu was so happy, it must have showed on his face because Woohyun was eyeing him in wonder.

Sunggyu did not care about his reaction though, because if Woohyun would give up his job, that would mean the younger would be no longer risking his life. What he would do instead of the messenger job was no concern to Sunggyu. Woohyun could live jobless like Sunggyu did now, and he wouldn’t care. What mattered was Woohyun was giving up the job.

“But” Woohyun said. “You have to give me something in return.”

The statement did not give Sunggyu the desired effect Woohyun was expecting probably mainly because Sunggyu was still in the state of happiness at the thought of Woohyun quitting his job. “What would that be?” Sunggyu asked, his heart light of burdens.

Woohyun leaned right next to his ear, his lips touching the shell of Sunggyu’s ear.

Sunggyu shivered at the feeling, and his toes curled as the younger breathed out hot air over his ear.

“Let me love you tonight.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sowwy the angst is overdone i know ㅠㅠ


	9. 08. heal

 

 

 

“Let me love you tonight.”

Woohyun feared getting a slap or being thrown down the hill for that statement, but he received none of that.

Instead as he withdrew from Sunggyu, he noticed how red Sunggyu had become. “Gyu” He said.

Sunggyu looked up at that. “Why?” He asked.

“Because you seem to think that my love isn’t worth overcoming your doubts. I want to prove it to you that I can love you properly.” Woohyun explained.

“This isn’t a game Woohyun.”

“I have never considered it to be one. Hyung, I have always only tried to show you how much I love you, yet you have never believed in me. I want to show you the depth of my love.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Sunggyu asked. He looked really nervous and on the verge of running away.

So Woohyun held his hands, and made him stay still. Sunggyu was trembling after that, so Woohyun pulled him to his chest. “You can reject me if you want to. I won’t cry hyung.” He said.

The older calmed down at that. Woohyun knew Sunggyu would be afraid of ever rejecting anything Woohyun said, since his past rejection had caused Woohyun a lot of pain. Sunggyu had probably been in a dilemma of how to say no to Woohyun, and now that Woohyun had said it was fine to say no, Sunggyu was relieved.

“Just give me one night of yours. That’s all I need.” Woohyun requested.

“What do you plan to do?” Sunggyu pulled away and looked at Woohyun in the eyes.

Woohyun noticed the dark circles under the older’s eyes, and how he seemed so weary of everything. Sunggyu looked a lot worse compared to when Woohyun had last seen him, and Woohyun so badly wanted to take care of him. “I won’t do anything you would be uncomfortable with. Please trust me just this once, eoh?”

Sunggyu seemed to be thinking. Woohyun was sceptical of his proposal being accepted.

“You can ask me to go away whenever you feel like it. Please give it a try.” Woohyun tried to convince the older.

“Why are you doing this?” Sunggyu asked.

“I already explained that, didn’t I? I want to show you my love.” Woohyun was a romantic person and he was not shy of saying out those things aloud, but there was only so much you could tolerate while being continuously pushed away by the person you loved.

Sunggyu was silent for about two minutes, and it made Woohyun feel awkward standing there with no purpose.

“I’ll just leave.” He grumbled, and turned around to leave.

But there was a hand holding his arm, preventing him from moving ahead, and Woohyun turned around to look Sunggyu staring at him nervously. “Wait please.” The older did not speak anything after that.

Woohyun could gauge how frustrated Sunggyu was feeling at having to make a decision. Sunggyu had wanted Woohyun to stop working as a messenger so badly, and now his wish could be fulfilled but he would have to spend a night with Woohyun for that. It made Woohyun realize how much Sunggyu wanted to stay away from him. The Sunggyu of the past would never have taken so much time to make a decision when Woohyun’s life was at even a little bit of stake. But now…

His defences were crumbling and Woohyun wanted to break down right there, but he couldn’t do that.

“It’s alright Sunggyu. You do not need to decide. I am giving up the job anyway.” Woohyun said.

Sunggyu was broken out of his thoughts and he looked at Woohyun surprised.

“I have found something better to occupy my time with, something which does not involve danger.” Woohyun had Dahyun to look after all, from now on. He had decided to take her responsibility, and she would serve as distraction enough. “I just wanted to try my luck at this, whether you would agree to what I said, but it’s hopeless anyway.” Woohyun sighed. “I’ll leave. Thank you for your time.” Woohyun bowed, and walked away from the cabin.

 

 

 

The whole atmosphere was filled with nervousness and Sunggyu was shifting on the mattress uncomfortably.

Woohyun was sitting quite close to him, not too close though, for which Sunggyu was thankful.

He had followed Woohyun when the younger had left, because first, Woohyun had actually agreed to give up the job and that was a good thing, and second, the younger had seemed too eager for Sunggyu to accept the request and Sunggyu couldn’t fathom how much it would have hurt the younger if Sunggyu had rejected him _again_. Of course, Woohyun had said that there were no worries, but that was probably only to make Sunggyu not feel obligated to accept.

So Sunggyu had asked him to return, and now the two of them were sitting on the mattress in Sunggyu’s cabin.

Sunggyu was nervous about what Woohyun would do, but the younger had also assured Sunggyu that he would not make him uncomfortable, there was that. So Sunggyu just waited for Woohyun to make a move.

He looked towards the younger, and noticed that Woohyun was looking back at him.

When their eyes met, Sunggyu felt like turning away from the intense gaze, but the gaze held a lot of emotions, and Sunggyu was deep into wanting to know the depth of those.

“How was your day?” Woohyun asked.

Sunggyu was surprised at the unexpected question, so he stuttered a bit, but eventually replied, “F-fine, and yours?”

“It was tiring.” Woohyun confessed. He came closer to Sunggyu, and Sunggyu almost squeaked when Woohyun held his arm, but the younger only rested his head on Sunggyu’s shoulder, and that made Sunggyu feel warm.

He was tempted to pat Woohyun on the back and comfort him, but held back.

“A kid was about to be devoured by zombies and I had to fight them off.” Woohyun sighed.

Oh, so that was how Woohyun got injured.

“There were about ten zombies blocking my path back home, and I had to fight them off too. It was exhausting and I had almost given up, but managed to survive somehow.”

Sunggyu gave up on holding back then and stroked Woohyun’s back. The younger appreciated that and hummed in satisfaction. “I am glad you are alright.” Sunggyu said.

Woohyun snuggled closer to him, and Sunggyu let him.

There was silence after that, so Sunggyu decided to speak up. “I did nothing special today. Sungyeol came to visit for a while in the morning and Myungsoo left a while ago. They have been checking up on me regularly.” He was not sure why he admitted that, but there was actually nothing significant that happened to him today that he could speak of, and he had wanted to share his story too.

“They do check up on me too. We are giving them a lot of burden, aren’t we?” Woohyun said.

That Woohyun was feeling the same as him was making Sunggyu comfortable talking to Woohyun. He had always been comfortable talking to the younger. Even though he had not shared some of his major concerns with Woohyun, the reason he had been able to overcome most of his concerns was the younger. Woohyun would listen to him without judging and give his opinions honestly. He would also be there to comfort Sunggyu whenever he was sad, and Sunggyu realized how much he missed Woohyun. He had missed the younger too much.

“Hyung are you okay?” Woohyun asked, lifting his head up and looking at Sunggyu.

Sunggyu wasn’t sure what Woohyun was trying to do. They were just chatting up like they used to during old times, and whatever was Woohyun’s intention, Sunggyu was quite content with whatever was going on. He was used to being close to Woohyun like this, with no underlying feelings in the picture. “I am doing alright.” Sunggyu replied. “Better than before. What about you?”

“Me too. Also, when I am with hyung, I feel comfortable talking about whatever is troubling me. Even though you don’t want to be beside me, that you agreed to my request makes me happy. Thank you.” Woohyun said sincerely.

Sunggyu nodded in reply. He had a lot to say, about how he did not deserve any thank yous. He was also very confused about why Woohyun wanted to spend his night like this. But Sunggyu had missed seeing Woohyun in the past weeks, and he was thankful for this opportunity. And the younger probably remembered the old times, and yes Sunggyu was really nostalgic too, so he was glad to relive the experience.

 

 

 

They were readying to head for Woohyun’s house. It would take them fifteen minutes to reach there walking. Woohyun had told Sunggyu that he had brought a box of strawberries from his trip and that he wanted to share some.

Sunggyu put on his black hoodie, and retrieved a pink one from his cabinet for Woohyun. The younger looked too fluffy wearing that, and Sunggyu smiled at him. They wore masks too since it might be hard to explain to people why they were together and at this time of the night, if anyone chanced upon them.

The two walked side by side, and after some time, Woohyun held Sunggyu’s hand. Sunggyu did not pull away, and relished in the comfort of the feeling.

The streets were empty since it was the dead of the night, and they reached Woohyun’s house quickly.

Woohyun retrieved the box of strawberries and placed it in front of Sunggyu.

Sunggyu was too excited on seeing them, because he loved strawberries a whole lot, and the last time he had eaten one was months ago.

“Take as much as you want, but please keep at least ten of them for me.”

Sunggyu need not be told twice. He grabbed as many as he could fit into the bag Woohyun handed to him, and also ate a few of them right there.

“I did not bring them for you, but felt you would appreciate them more than others.” Woohyun said.

And Sunggyu gave him a tight hug. He was going against his decision of staying away from Woohyun, but one night wouldn’t hurt right? And he also wanted to make the younger know how thankful he was.

Woohyun returned his hug and Sunggyu was hoping the hug never ended because it felt that good. He realized how much he missed Woohyun. He was about to cry, but Woohyun had already started crying. So Sunggyu pulled back and wiped away the younger’s tears.

Sunggyu knew he had caused Woohyun a whole lot of pain. Seeing Woohyun cry was not something he wanted to experience, but he had made the younger cry a lot.

He had been hoping Woohyun would grow tired of him and give up eventually. Sunggyu did not deserve Woohyun’s love. He had hurt the younger too much. Besides it would be better for Woohyun if he was not in a relationship with Sunggyu at all. Sunggyu knew Woohyun would get tired of Sunggyu one day. And that would be even more painful for the both of them.

But yet Woohyun was here. After all of the tests Sunggyu had made Woohyun go through, after all of the suffering Woohyun had to go through, Woohyun was still there, by Sunggyu’s side. And Sunggyu wasn’t sure of his decision anymore. If Woohyun wanted Sunggyu still, did Sunggyu have the right to reject him anymore?

Sunggyu had assumed Woohyun wouldn’t contact him anymore, since he was fed up. He had hurt him to that extent. But Woohyun had unexpectedly come back to him, even if for a single night.

All this while, Sunggyu had been arriving at conclusions about Woohyun’s feelings, without asking the younger about it at all. He had assumed Woohyun did not love him as much as he loved the younger. He had assumed that Woohyun would get tired of him one day. He had assumed Woohyun might never able to return the same love.

But the reality had been something else, and it had been blaring horns at Sunggyu since a long time. Woohyun had only been more and more upset as Sunggyu pushed him away, and the younger was still trying to reconcile things between them even after all hope was lost. There was literally no hope left for their relationship with how much Sunggyu had turned the younger away from him, yet Woohyun was there, his Woohyun was still seeking him.

And that was the reality. Woohyun probably loved Sunggyu as much as Sunggyu loved the younger, or maybe even more. It was difficult to accept that, and it had been really hard to ignore the signs when those were clearly visible.

But there was no more running from it.

A thunder struck an area close by and it was as if the nature was trying to indicate Sunggyu that yes, the conclusion he had arrived at was right.

 

 

 

This was not something Woohyun had ever expected would happen when he had asked Sunggyu to spend a night with him.

But now he was lying down on the bed, and Sunggyu was… Sunggyu was caressing his cheeks tenderly from next to him.

The older had really sad and broken eyes, yet he had a smile on his face.

Woohyun was not sure how to feel.

Sunggyu had requested him to stop crying and made him lie down on his bed. And Woohyun was anticipating the older’s next move.

Sunggyu leaned closer to him, and Woohyun involuntary closed his eyes.

They opened in surprise though, when there was a pair of lips pressing on his own. And Woohyun was looking wide eyed at the close up of Sunggyu’s face.

Sunggyu was kissing him?

It was hard to believe.

Yet there he was, lying stunned over the bed, having his lips pressed against the other.

Sunggyu pulled away and Woohyun wondered if this was a thank you for the strawberries because Sunggyu really loved those fruits, so that could be possible. But he was pulled out of his thoughts, when Sunggyu made him to sit up, sitting next to him.

The older held Woohyun’s chin with his hand, and asked him, “Can I do that again?”

Woohyun could see the moisture gathering in Sunggyu’s eyes, and before Sunggyu could cry, he pushed his lips against the older’s soft ones. It was really unexpected, he had only hoped to make Sunggyu remember how they had been together before and he had wanted to make the older realize that they had been in love before too like that; that love was something they had experienced already. How that led to this, he had no clue. But he wasn’t even against it.

He felt satisfaction at the feeling of Sunggyu having initiated something, but there was the probability that this was their last ever kiss, so he held on to Sunggyu dearly, hoping to remember the feeling as much as he could.

Sunggyu pulled away soon, but he did not stop. He made Woohyun lie down again, and started kissing him all over.

It was not the first time Sunggyu did that to him. Even years ago, sometimes Woohyun would feel too needy after sex, and Sunggyu always cared for him like that, by giving him small feathery kisses.

The older went from kissing his temple, to his nose, cheeks, and jaw. He dragged his mouth over Woohyun’s hands and placed a kiss on his tummy too where Woohyun’s shirt had ridden up.

Woohyun felt embarrassed at that, and blushed as he remembered how Myungsoo had teased him once that they were having babies when Sunggyu had kissed him there before.

Sunggyu must have remembered that too because Woohyun noticed his face turning red. The older then returned back up, and placed a kiss on Woohyun’s lips again.

Whether as a compensation for the strawberries or not, Woohyun was happy to receive all the affection, and he returned as much as he could. He brought Sunggyu on top of him, and smashed their mouths together. It did not take long for tongues to be involved after that. Woohyun was not sure who initiated, but now both of them were eating the other’s mouth out.

There was the sweet taste of strawberries from Sunggyu’s mouth, and Woohyun only wanted more and more of it. Sunggyu’s body shifted against him over him, and it made his whole body shiver in pleasure, as he moaned into the hot cavern.

Sunggyu became more aggressive after that, and was biting, pulling and licking all over his mouth. Woohyun’s lips were red from all the attention, but he was not going to make the older stop.

 

 

 

It took them some while to separate themselves from each other.

Woohyun noticed some strawberries in the bag lying crushed due to their weight as they had accidentally fallen on it. “The strawberries…”

“No worries” Sunggyu said, next to him. “I got something I needed more than the strawberries anyway.” Sunggyu placed another kiss on Woohyun’s lips and Woohyun was blushing madly.

He turned away and hung his head down to regain his senses.

Sunggyu’s hand rested over his, and Woohyun turned to the older after some time, expecting an explanation. There were just too many boundaries crossed, and though Woohyun had responded eagerly, encouraging Sunggyu, he was also sure there had to be some reason for all of it.

The older was looking at him with a smile on his face. His face glowed and he looked younger with how his features lit up in happiness.

Woohyun was rooted to his spot, at the change in Sunggyu’s demeanour.

It was like the old Sunggyu had returned, the one from before when he had never left the village, the one who cared for Woohyun and understood him more than anyone else.

It was hard to comprehend what prompted the change in Sunggyu suddenly, and if Sunggyu had actually changed, but the older no longer looked like the sad person from hours ago, and Woohyun wanted him to stay like that, and never go back.

“I love you.”

Huh?

Did he hear it right? Had Sunggyu really…

“Woohyun ah, I love you.”

Woohyun was sure he looked hideous, as he was trying to keep himself calm and not burst out.

The smile on Sunggyu’s face was like a whole load of sunshine and Woohyun couldn’t handle it.

So he pulled himself away from there and ran.

 

 

 

The walls were filled with cobwebs, and the doors and furniture were almost dusty, but Woohyun entered the creepy house in the interiors of the village, using the spare key he had.

Sunggyu’s father had lent Woohyun that spare key to his house many years ago since Woohyun practically lived there as much time as Sunggyu did after they had become friends. That was because Sunggyu barely visited the place when his father wasn’t home and that was most of the time, and also Woohyun would accompany him almost every time he did visit it.

So it had been Woohyun’s second home then.

After Sunggyu had left the village, Woohyun had been visiting the place regularly and also maintained it, since he would visit it occasionally. The place had provided him a comforting atmosphere. It would remind him of all the happy memories from his teenage days.

And after Sunggyu had returned and Woohyun had started talking to him, he had not found any excuse to visit the place. Sunggyu had probably as good as abandoned it too, considering the state of the house.

But Woohyun could only retreat _here_ now as his heart was full of emotions. He needed calm and this was the place that would provide him that.

Once inside, he lit up the fireplace and went to the bedroom. Dusting the covers only once, he lied down on the bed, soaking in the musky scent of the place.

He was reminded of Dahyun and maybe he could have gone to his little girl and spent time with her, but she would be asleep, and his parents would ask questions, so he had to stay away from others.

He was also worried of what Sunggyu would think. He had abandoned the older after receiving the confession, and Woohyun was worried that the lovely smile he had been blessed to see tonight might vanish forever.

Sunggyu must be hurt.

He almost sat up to go back, but he knew there was no way he would be able to face Sunggyu in his condition.

So he lied down, and hoped his heart would calm down soon.

 

 

 

Sunggyu chuckled, as he looked at Myungsoo who was sitting in the chair next to him, dozing off.

The younger had been staying with him while Sunggyu was trying to write his letter to his mom. Apparently it was Myungsoo’s turn to stay with Sunggyu today, and the younger was now almost falling off the chair with how dangerously his head was tipping off to the side.

So Sunggyu stood up, and made the younger stand up using his support, making him lean against his arms.

Myungsoo rubbed his eyes sleepily, and Sunggyu whispered to him to go back to sleep, that everything was fine. He then carried the younger to his mattress, and made him lie down on it.

Myungsoo opened his eyes, and was about to get up, but Sunggyu held him down. “Sleep Soo. I am fine.” He smiled, brushing the bangs falling over the younger’s eyes.

Myungsoo gave a smile at that, and Sunggyu resisted himself from pinching the younger’s cheeks where they had dipped to form dimples.

_Eomma,_

_I am sorry I haven’t been replying to you as soon as possible. But there have been certain things bothering me, and it was hard to avoid speaking about those topics. I know you don’t want me to hide things from you, so I am trying my best to not lie to you. I need some time._

_Don’t worry though. Things are not that bad, and I am doing better than before. I hope I can see you soon. Take care._

_Sunggyu_

_P.s.: I am handing over the salve you were asking about in Sungjong’s hands._

He sealed off the letter in an inconspicuous envelope, and kept it to the side to give it to Sungjong tomorrow, so the younger could deliver it when he was heading off to that part of the country.

A rumble came from his stomach and Sunggyu was hungry. His sight fell on the bag of strawberries. He had not had the chance to have them yesterday after returning home. Since it was not lunch time yet, he could satiate his hunger by eating the delicious fruits.

As he took one and put it in his mouth, he was reminded of the kiss he had shared with Woohyun yesterday. It had been exciting and lovely and so very amazing. He had missed being with Woohyun like that, and that too while his mind was free of burdens.

Yesterday, he had finally accepted that Woohyun loved him. The understanding actually hit him abruptly, because even though the signs had all been there all this time, Sunggyu had been having a hard time accepting those.

But yesterday, after Woohyun came back to him the nth time, it made him realize the younger’s importance. His crying broke him, and made him understand how he was hurting the younger by staying away.

Sunggyu had finally accepted that Woohyun loved him. Of course the younger couldn’t have lied all those times, but the fact that the younger still cared for him despite everything was enough to prove his love for him.

Yes, there was a possibility Woohyun might stop loving him in the future. Sunggyu had not ruled that out. But that was not something that needed to be worried for. Every relationship had its ups and downs. And if Sunggyu had to decide to go through with the trials of the troubles of a relationship with anyone, he would choose Woohyun as his companion over anyone else.

When Woohyun had run away after Sunggyu’s confession, it had surprised Sunggyu for a bit, but he knew Woohyun needed the time.

And Sunggyu was willing to wait any amount of time for Woohyun to adjust to him.

Woohyun had never shied away from showing his love, and Sunggyu was confident his feelings were reciprocated this time.

Now the only thing left was to apologize to Woohyun, and to heal his heart.

He had to look after Woohyun for all the pain he had caused him.

Sunggyu understood the pain of one-sided love too well, and Woohyun must have felt lonely as Sunggyu had only shooed him away whenever the younger had approached him with his heart on his sleeves. Woohyun needed time to heal, and Sunggyu would give him that, along with all the care he could provide him.

 

 

 

Woohyun was not prepared to be hugged tightly as he entered his home.

The front door was open and Boohyun waved to him from inside as Dahyun hugged him tight.

Woohyun hugged her back smiling at his brother.

After Boohyun left, Woohyun had his breakfast; Dahyun had had food at his parents’ place.

Dahyun narrated some tales Woohyun’s mom had shared with her. Woohyun listened to her, nodding along with her conversation. He retrieved Sungjong’s unused teddy which the younger gladly gave to him, and gave it to Dahyun, assuring her he would buy new things for her soon.

She asked him if he could go see her mom.

Woohyun blanked out at that.

What was he supposed to reply?

“I know eomma’s not there anymore. The monster lives inside her now. My appa used to say monsters should be put to rest, and I don’t want the monster to use my mom for doing bad things. Can Woohyunie oppa put the monster to rest?” Dahyun asked.

Woohyun was surprised at the amount of maturity the child had. It took a lot of strength for people to accept their loved ones have passed away right after being bitten by a zombie. It was hard for them to accept that even after seeing their loved ones become a zombie and lusting after human meat. Yet this kid of nine years age, had learnt to accept that there was no saving her mom anymore. She cried for her mom, but had accepted the fact that her mother was no more. That her body was now in the monster’s hands.

“You are brave and intelligent, Dahyunnie. Your parents taught you well. You are such a good girl.” Woohyun patted her head. He was actually proud of her.

She only nodded in reply and clung to him again.

“I will try to see what I can do hmm?” He replied to her question.

“Okay. But don’t leave me alone.” Dahyun requested. “Eomma left me and appa left me too. Oppa please don’t leave me.” She cried.

And so Woohyun assured her that he would stay with her and not leave her.

 

 

 

It was already night, by the time he had finished setting up things for Dahyun in his house. He had to move to a bigger house, so she could have a small room to herself, but for now they had to manage with that. He had a feeling Dahyun looked up to him as her dad now, he was about that age.

And Woohyun cared for her. He had grown fond of her with the time he had spent with her, and was planning to look after her as a part of his family. It was not like she had anywhere else to go to too, and Woohyun was quite attached to her.

He had already taken care of her admission to the settlement, and had also enrolled her in the school. She would join next week, since Woohyun figured she might need time to get over her mother’s death. So he tried to keep her occupied by playing with her.

How Sunggyu would fit into the equation, Woohyun had no clue. Would Sunggyu be alright with Dahyun being a part of Woohyun’s life?

But the main question was- what was their relationship now?

Woohyun had run away after Sunggyu’s confession, and though he was slightly worried about how Sunggyu must have felt about that, he also wanted some time.

He did not know how he was supposed to behave around Sunggyu. Now that the older had confessed his love, how exactly were they going to move forward?

The confession had taken him by a surprise since it had been unexpected, Woohyun hadn’t expected to hear those words from the person he loved so soon.

He wanted to go to Sunggyu and admit that he loved him to the stars and back. He also had so much he wanted to talk about with Sunggyu. But he did not know where to start. Maybe he could go to Sunggyu and return his declaration of love. Or he could simply hug him and not let him leave. A part of his heart also wanted him to stay away from Sunggyu and see how the older would approach him, and that part was winning.

There was a chance Sunggyu might forget about his confession and not contact Woohyun at all. But if the older was really serious about it, he would try to meet Woohyun again, and Woohyun wanted to know how Sunggyu planned to go ahead with this.

He would wait for a day, and if Sunggyu did not approach him still, he would have to think of something else.

 

 

 

What he had been thinking to do this, Sunggyu was not sure. Why was he standing in front of Woohyun’s house all covered up?

It was because Woohyun had not tried to contact him at all after running away from him a day ago.

Sunggyu had realized that maybe the younger wanted him to do the chasing this time.

So he was now standing in front of Woohyun’s house, and hesitating to knock on the door.

When he finally gathered the courage to knock on it, he heard the sound of wood being chopped from the back side of the house.

He tiptoed to the back, and found Woohyun shirtless, striking at the wood with an axe.

All the sweat glistening on Woohyun’s body made Sunggyu almost drool at the sight, especially with how the tight fitted pants clung to Woohyun’s skin, as if they were a part of his skin. His pants were also quite low, revealing the band of his underwear, and Sunggyu couldn’t stop looking at him.

After a while, he realized how creepy it was, and waited for Woohyun to take a break from his work, so he could approach him.

“Hi Woohyun.”

The younger dropped the axe in his hands at Sunggyu’s voice, and the handle stubbed his toe. “Ouch, fuck” Woohyun cursed.

And Sunggyu was soon by his side, cursing himself for still taking the younger by surprise after having waited all that time. What could he do? Woohyun seemed to not stop at all, so he had to wait for him to pause to approach him, yet the younger got hurt.

Sunggyu made Woohyun sit down on the logs of wood and looked at the toe, after removing the shoe. Since Woohyun had been wearing his shoes, the impact wasn’t much, but the area where the handle had hit was red.

There wasn’t anything he could do. It would stop hurting after some time, but Woohyun was still crinkling his eyes from the pain. The shock must have not yet gone.

So to distract him, Sunggyu kissed him on the lips.

Woohyun stilled under him, but got up from the logs and sat down on the ground, soon returning the kiss, bringing Sunggyu to sit on his lap.

Sunggyu put his legs over either side of Woohyun’s waist, covering the distance between them.

This was not what he had intended to do. He had been aiming to have a proper talk with Woohyun, apologize to him for making him cry.

But they were full on making out in the open in broad daylight.

Not many people lived around this area, since the house was at the edge of the forest away from the residential blocks, so people might not see them.

Yet the fact that they were kissing in public was a wonder. Because yesterday the two of them had worn masks to avoid being seen together. They had taken that precaution during night time when there were low risks of being caught. Yet now, they were up in each other’s faces in public and during day time.

Woohyun was definitely going to be hard soon as Sunggyu was sitting right on top of him, and his butt was rubbing against Woohyun’s clothed member.

Woohyun’s fingers slipped under Sunggyu’s shirt from behind and ran all over his back.

Sunggyu’s hands were messy as he held onto Woohyun’s abs which were sweaty. He did not mind one bit though.

Woohyun pulled away soon though, and just when Sunggyu thought that they would stop, Woohyun scooped him up in his arms.

Trying to avoid looking at his face, Sunggyu looked down and was met by the sight of the perky nipples. It was hard to hold himself back, but he did not have to bear much, as he was laid down on the carpet of the floor inside the house soon.

Woohyun was on top of him, latching his mouth over him again.

And Sunggyu couldn’t have enough of the kissing.

He grabbed hold of Woohyun’s hair, pulling him closer, the other hand pressing his back down, so Woohyun was snugly fitted on top of Sunggyu.

Their members brushed once or twice, and it was hard to hold back the moans.

They only separated when it got really hard to breathe.

Woohyun was looking at him with fire in his eyes. “What took you so long to come?” He asked.

“Were you waiting?” Sunggyu countered.

“Of course.” Woohyun replied, sitting up and grabbing his shirt to put it on. The two of them were going to have to bath soon since they were both covered in sweat and dirt.

“I am sorry.” Sunggyu sat next to him. They were both gross and sweaty, but neither cared.

“You should be.” Woohyun brought his knees up to his chin and laid his head over it. “You made me wait for so long, more than a year.”

Sunggyu realized it had been almost a year and a half after Woohyun had confessed his love to him, and that everything after that was sad.

It was funny the two of them were jumping each other after staying away for so long, but Sunggyu was not holding back anymore. It would have been so much better and less painful had Sunggyu accepted all of it a long time ago, but the past could not be reversed, could it?

He hugged Woohyun from the side. “Hyung is sorry for everything. I behaved like a pabo all this time, and hurt you so much…”

“It was hard living like that, Sunggyu.” Woohyun admitted and started letting out all the worries he had been having all this time.

Sunggyu was glad Woohyun was opening up to him, and he was so glad to have made this decision finally, because as Woohyun poured his heart out to him, he truly understood the magnitude of how much Woohyun had been hurt.

Yes Sunggyu had been sad all the time, but Sunggyu had also been away from his hometown for the majority of the time. It was Woohyun, who had to live with the people who reminded him of Sunggyu, it was Woohyun who had to live in the place where the two of them had shared many memories. And it was Woohyun who had not given up ever.

His Woohyun had been really strong. Sunggyu couldn’t have been more proud of Woohyun for holding on despite all the worries.

As Woohyun narrated his sorrow, Sunggyu’s heart was getting heavy realizing how much Woohyun had had to suffer. He hugged the younger and comforted him when he broke down and kept his distance whenever Woohyun felt like it.

They spent some hours next to each other just listening to the other. It was Woohyun who spoke the most, but Sunggyu would occasionally reply and share some of his feelings too.

They parted when it was night time, and simply waved each other good bye. No good bye kiss or hug. Not that Sunggyu was in the mood to do anything. His heart was heavy with pain and he needed some time to get over it.

 

 

 

The storm had wrecked the roof of his house the previous night, so Sunggyu was busy fixing it.

He had climbed on the top using the ladder he had borrowed from someone, and was almost done with it.

It took a few more fittings, and it was fixed. He stepped down accomplished.

It was evening time and for the past five days Woohyun had been visiting his house at this time, after which him and Sunggyu would go for a stroll around, simply talking to each other.

It felt nice doing that.

The two of them were absolutely jobless, Woohyun having given up on his messenger job too. But the younger still seemed busy because he would only have time in the evening for Sunggyu.

It made Sunggyu curious about what kept Woohyun busy, and he had tried asking about it in a roundabout way, but had received no satisfactory answer. So he had given up on it.

But the time he spent with the younger in the evening was worth everything though. It made Sunggyu feel light hearted. Majority of the time was spent on Sunggyu simply taking care of Woohyun, feeding him stuff or caressing his cheeks, or letting him nap leaning on him. They would talk a lot too.

And there were times they went frisky with each other. It did not go far, but once Sungyeol had caught them while Woohyun had his tongue shoved down Sunggyu’s throat as the older had been groping the younger’s backside. Then there was another time, Woohyun had been half asleep on Sunggyu’s lap, shifting uncomfortably, that giving Sunggyu a boner. And then the younger had proceeded to jerk his clothed member off in his drowsy state.

The furthest they had gone was yesterday, having their hands inside the other’s pants and jerking each other off.

It wasn’t even something Sunggyu wished for to happen. It happened naturally, because it was the first time that they were freely allowed to touch each other with no restrictions. Years ago, when they were sort of friends with benefits, Sunggyu would always restrict himself from going overboard with his touches so as to not seem affectionate. Now that he had the freedom to do anything, he would not hold back.

Sunggyu remembered every moment spent with Woohyun, whatever kind it was, even if it was just the direction of a simple smile from the younger to him. It helped him sleep peacefully in the night, because there were times when he would blame himself so much for everything and when he remembered that smile and that Woohyun still loved him, he would stop thinking about the past and hope to make everything right in the future.

Their friends had been keeping their distance from the two of them since the past few days, to let the two sort out their issues on their own. But Sunggyu could notice how all of them now seemed better than before, smiled more than before.

He had so taken the right decision in accepting Woohyun in his life.

Today Woohyun had some work to do though, so he wasn’t able to come and Sunggyu was already missing him.

He decided to write some songs, and was about to enter his cabin, when the hair at the back of his neck stood up.

Someone or something was watching him, he got that feeling and it was creepy. He turned around to check, and- nothing. He decided to take another look, and his eyes caught the sight of a pair of eyes looking at him. He couldn’t guess what exactly was watching him, but it was most likely a human being.

Stealthily taking out the dagger hidden in his belt, he ran to the other side of his house, and threw it at the distance where that thing was viewing him from.

There was a sudden squeak and the thing was running away.

As it was running away and not towards him, it meant that it was someone weaker than Sunggyu, so Sunggyu decided to give it a chase.

And it did not even take him two minutes to catch hold of the person.

It was a pretty cute child, and Sunggyu would have seriously cooed had he not been creeped out by her eyes staring at him before.

Now as he looked at her in close distance, he noticed his dagger had pierced her calf, and it was bleeding.

Shit.

 

 

 


	10. 09. need

 

 

 

A staring contest was ongoing between two people.

Sunggyu was seated on one of the chairs inside his house, while the kid was sitting on the carpet, leaning against the wall.

She seemed afraid of Sunggyu, from how she acted, and Sunggyu wanted to laugh at that, because she had been the one stalking Sunggyu and not the other way round.

Yet, she was a kid, and Sunggyu was naturally worried about her.

He had disinfected the cut on her leg, and it had taken a lot of hassle to do that. Because she had not been cooperative at all. He had had to resort to threatening her to take her to her parents, so she would follow him. It had also been quite hard to convince her to let him bandage her.

The hit had been just above her knee, and he had to fold up her pants to treat that. That had made him aware of the other scratches her body had.

There was no way she was someone from the village. There was a probability Sunggyu had never come across some people, but with the population of just two thousand, he was sure having stayed most of his life in the settlement, he had met most of the people who lived there.

But it was quite possible he had never met some people, he did not know everyone of course, especially the kids, so she might have not come to his notice before.

Yet with how much she was bruised all over her body, she couldn’t be someone from the village. Kids from their village lived incident free lives, since they were not allowed to go outside the walls at all for safety purposes unless accompanied by adults. No kids who lived there could be as injured as her.

And he knew from her appearance that she had to have been outside of the walls for a considerable time.

Had she climbed up the hill to enter? If so, how had the guards who had been guarding the area have missed her? Also, it was really hard for anyone to enter the village through this route since there were forests and more dangerous hills outside, so how had a kid managed to enter through there? She had to have a companion.

Sunggyu narrowed his eyes to look at her so that he could come to a conclusion. The kid who had been looking at the bandage tied around her leg until now noticed Sunggyu’s gaze, and became teary all of a sudden.

“Where are you from?” Sunggyu asked her.

The kid kept quiet.

“Answer my question or I’ll hand you over to the guards.” Sunggyu warned.

No answer.

“Was there anyone along with you?”

Silence.

“What were you doing here?”

The kid suddenly stood up to flee and she was pretty fast too, but Sunggyu managed to bring her back to the house.

She started screaming for help, but that would be of no use of course, there was absolutely no one on the hill, other than the guards who would be looking after the place, and if the guards did come to check, Sunggyu could easily hand her to them.

So he let her scream all she wanted. It hurt his ears, but he did not want to bother shutting her up.

Making her sit on the mattress, he scolded her, “Keep quiet. I won’t hurt you. I only want to know what you were doing here. Answer my questions and I’ll let you go.”

She seemed to be on the verge of crying, and Sunggyu’s heart melted at that. He tried to give her a smile to prompt her to speak, but she looked more terrified of him, so he stayed away.

Yet he kept an eye on her, waiting for an answer.

Some minutes later, she spoke up, “Please let me go ahjusshi”

That startled Sunggyu. Was he that old to be called ahjusshi? He was only twenty eight, about to be twenty nine. But…

Okay, he was an ahjusshi, but generally kids her age still called him hyung or oppa. So he sulked at being called ahjusshi.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed the girl trying to look around for ways to escape. So to avoid another scuffle, he decided to sort out the matter calmly.

“What’s your name?”

The kid was looking stubbornly at him, and her puffed-up cheeks made Sunggyu want to pinch them, because she looked so cute, despite how much trouble she was giving him. A laugh came out of him involuntarily.

The girl looked startled at him, and Sunggyu was hoping she wouldn’t try to escape again, while he was trying to calm himself down. She did not and he was thankful for once.

“Who are you?” She asked.

Sunggyu did not know what to make of the question. “What do you mean?”

She looked unable to say out in words what she wanted to ask. “I am sorry for coming here. Let me go please.” She said again.

“Do you live in this place? Or are you trying to hide and live secretly here? Do you have a home here?” He asked, hoping he she answered his questions or he would have to take her to the guards, and they would make her speak using their methods. And he did not want to subject her to that, because he knew what guards would do to make her speak. He used to be one of them after all, and he did not want a person her age to be subject to torture.

She looked at him pouting, but finally answered. “I live with my oppa here.”

Oh, if she was saying the truth, that was a relief. Sunggyu wanted to believe her. The bruises over her body required an explanation, but there was the possibility of her family having shifted only recently there.

“Are you new here?” He asked.

She nodded in reply.

“What were you doing here then?” He asked. There was no reason for her to be around here alone.

“My oppa goes around here every day, and I wanted to meet him.”

Sunggyu wondered where her brother would visit, because no one lived anywhere close to him. But he guessed she must have lost her way. It was possible, since she was small. “Oh do you know the way back to your place?”

She nodded.

Sunggyu was considering the pros and cons of letting her go free. Finally, he decided to lead her to her place. That would let him confirm if she actually lived in their village. “I will drop you off at your place.”

The kid looked scared at that. “No.”

“Why? Did you lie to me?” He asked, looking at her with narrowed eyes.

“Oppa will feel bad if he comes to know I went out without asking him.”

Oh.

“Then you shouldn’t have done that. Now you have to tell him.”

She looked pretty scared at that, and Sunggyu wondered if her brother was that strict.

“Okay. I won’t tell him. At least let me drop you to your place. I won’t come inside.” He said.

She nodded in reply finally.

 

 

 

Sunggyu was changing to more appropriate clothes off to a corner, as the girl was looking at stuff in the house. She was looking particularly at something, and once Sunggyu was done changing, he went closer to her to look.

She was holding his jacket in her hands. It had been lying in a corner, and she had picked it up.

“What are you doing?” He asked, from behind her.

She squeaked in surprise at the sudden question, and turned to him nervously. “S-sorry” She said, placing the jacket down.

“It’s okay. Come on.” He placed a hand on her shoulder.

 

 

 

They had just left the house, when there was a whistle from close to them.

Sunggyu recognized it as the guard’s whistle for warning of sudden attacks. It meant there was danger nearby and people were supposed to get to safety as soon as possible. It wasn’t a warning for the entire village, the whistle had been from somewhere nearby, so the danger was close.

He decided to go back to the house as quickly as possible.

Once inside, he wondered what the danger could be. It could be some thieves who had managed to breach the hill or probably some dangerous animals who had ventured into the area. There was a possibility of zombies having entered too. There was no way zombies could climb the hill, but a person could have been bitten at the base and then converted by the time they reached the top.

He decided to look out from the window, when he realized… Fuck! He had left the kid alone outside!

He quickly opened the front door and ran to where they had last been. She wasn’t there and his heart beat picked pace from fright. What if the danger had reached her? It would be his irresponsibility that hurt her.

The sound of heavy breathing caught his ears and he looked to the side to find two wild dogs barking at a tree.

The kid was sitting on a branch of the tree, trying to keep away from them. He was impressed she had managed to climb the tree so fast. Now he had to get the dogs away from her.

The guards would be here soon and they would take care of it, but there was the possibility that the dogs would reach her before that. It wasn’t like the dogs were of the kind that could be calmed down. They weren’t domesticated, and seemed feral.

Since the kid wasn’t far away from his cabin, Sunggyu came up with a quick plan. He ran quite some distance away from the place, and shouted loudly. “Yah! The dogs will come here then climb down and run to the house. Lock the door behind you. Do it quick!” He shouted loudly.

The animals did run to him and he climbed the tree close by quickly as soon as they were about to reach him. He did not go to the top, but tried to stay within their reach, so they wouldn’t give up on him and run to the girl. He did not move his gaze from the dogs and tried to taunt them, so that they wouldn’t focus on the kid again.

After some time, he looked at the direction where the kid had been earlier, and noticed that she wasn’t there anymore, but… she was peering from the door. “Close the door. Lock it!” He shouted without looking at her. She did not obey him though.

So Sunggyu had to keep the attention of the dogs on him.

The guards arrived some time later with their nets, and captured the animals. They would later decide what to do with them, whether to keep them for training or let them outside the village.

By the time, Sunggyu had gone down from the tree, and thanked the guards whom he knew, he was sure the kid must have run away, since it had been clear to run away safely for a while.

So he was surprised to find the kid still peering at him from the door as he headed to the cabin after saying good bye to the guards.

She made way for him to enter, and Sunggyu shut the door behind him.

“Sorry” She said.

Why was she saying sorry? “What for?” He asked.

“I got into trouble and you were in trouble because of me.”

Sunggyu looked at her and she was close to crying. He went to her, and kneeled down to be face to face with her. With a smile, he said, “Don’t worry. I am used to such situations. Besides, I forgot about you. I should have brought you with me.”

The words seemed to have no effect on her, as she started crying.

Sunggyu was confused about what to do. Now he thought, he should have handed her to the guards. They would have looked after her better. Sunggyu was just awkward at handling such situations.

The kid was crying, and Sunggyu had to do something quick.

He took her hand in his, and rubbed it. “Shh, don’t cry okay? They are gone now, and you are safe. The guards took them away.”

She looked at him with her teary eyes, shaking her head, her sobs growing louder.

Sunggyu wondered if it would be better to ask her to stay there and fetch Dongwoo or someone who could look after her. The sun was already setting, and it would be better if she reached her home as soon as possible. Her brother must be worried for her. Or he could ask the guards for help. There would be one close by. So he stood up. “I’ll go ask a guard to help, so they can drop you home.” He said, turning to leave.

But he was stopped from moving ahead, as the girl held his t-shirt from behind.

“What is the matter?” He turned to her, giving up and kneeling down again. He had to do something on his own. He used the lowest voice he could, so he wouldn’t scare her.

“Are you not hurt?” She asked.

“No.” Sunggyu said. She was so sweet, caring about someone she didn’t know. He opened his palms as if showing his body. “See. Can you see any injuries anywhere?”

She looked at his hands. “No.”

“I am fine.” He smiled at her.

She stopped crying after that, and gave a smile of her own.

It reminded Sunggyu of one of the dogs Woohyun’s family had. She was soft and fluffy like it. And her smile was precious. He pale skin reminded him of the white canine too.

“I’ll call you Dubu, since you don’t want to share your name with me.” Sunggyu pouted. It was the name of the white dog.

She smiled wide at that. “My eomma used to call me that too.”

“Oh is that so? Let’s get to your eomma as soon as possible Dubu, she might be worried.” Sunggyu said, trying to lead her out.

But then her expression turned gloomy all of a sudden, and Sunggyu remembered that she had said she lived with her brother. She did not have a mother most likely. It hit Sunggyu too close to home. During his childhood, he had to live with all the kids around him being smothered with love by their mothers and whenever someone asked for Sunggyu’s mother, his mood would drastically go down. He also started missing his mother now all of a sudden. It had been a long time since he had last seen her.

Dubu was looking down, and trying not to cry, and Sunggyu opened his arms.

She looked at him, hesitating. But then went to him, letting him comfort her.

That she was no longer scared of him made Sunggyu happy. The incident with the wild dogs must have assured her that Sunggyu was not an enemy.

“Sorry.” He said. “I’ll take you home now. Your brother must be worried.”

She nodded in reply. “Thank you oppa.”

Oh well. At least he got called ‘oppa’ as the reward for looking after her. Not bad.

 

 

 

It was a serious case of bad luck, because there was a siren blaring throughout the entire village, before they could step out of the cabin.

It only indicated one thing. The entire village was supposed to be on a lockdown.

It was not a rare occurrence, and there would be once or twice in a month that such situations occurred. But now Sunggyu was stuck with a kid, whose family would be really worried about her.

They were not supposed to step outside at all, and Sunggyu wondered if he should venture out and take note of the situation. Guards were allowed to step out during lockdowns but Sunggyu wasn’t a guard anymore. Still, he could try to look around and see if anyone was looking for a kid and inform them that she was safe with him.

But Dubu did not let him leave. She clung on to his pants when he tried to go out, and Sunggyu definitely couldn’t bring her out with him, who knows what dangers would be outside? He couldn’t take that risk.

So he stayed with her inside.

It took two to three hours for the siren of safety to ring throughout the village, and Sunggyu promptly handed Dubu over to Heechul who had come to meet him.

Heechul, one of the guards, had come to ask if Sunggyu had sighted any weird happenings around, since there was a suspicion that a group of robbers were hiding in the area.

Sunggyu had definitely not sighted anyone suspicious. He thought of Dubu, but Heechul talked to her casually as if he knew her so she had to be from the village, Sunggyu thought, and so he did not mention about her.

Sunggyu asked Heechul to drop her safely at her house, since she had lost her way here. Heechul agreed that he would drop her on his way back since he had to attend a meeting with the village head in the centre of the village and was heading there.

Sunggyu trusted the older, so he thanked his hyung, and said goodbye to his new small friend too. He doubted he would meet her again, but he would definitely want to check up on her. Hopefully they meet soon.

She gave him a big smile, and bowed in gratefulness.

Sunggyu gave her a kiss on the forehead, surprising himself.

But she giggled at that, and it sounded wonderful.

Sunggyu would miss her. His cabin had been lively for the time she had been there. It was lonely now that his friends stopped visiting him, and Woohyun only came to visit in the evening for about an hour. He would have to get accustomed to be by himself.

 

 

 

Woohyun was pacing inside his family home, his head full of negativity.

Thoughts of the worst case scenarios flooded his mind, and he wanted to go out so badly, but his brother had him trapped inside.

Woohyun had been on a trip to outside the village. He had wanted to check if he could locate the place where he had met Dahyun, and to see if he could find her mom in the house where she had turned into a zombie. He could fulfil his angel’s wish and also bury her mother peacefully.

There had not been much luck, since the area had been occupied by too many of the undead for some reason, and he couldn’t step in close to the house.

After deciding to try a week later, he had returned to his village to find that Dahyun was not at home. He had stressed to her before leaving her behind that she wasn’t to step out and that Boohyun would come check on her regularly while Woohyun was away. Yet she wasn’t there.

So Woohyun had gone to his family home to see if Boohyun had taken her there, but he was met with the tensed expressions of his parents and brother there. They had told him that had Dahyun had not been at home when Boohyun had gone to check on her five hours ago and had been missing since then.

Woohyun had been devastated and he set out to find her, but the village was announced to be on lockdown then and he was forced back into the house.

He would have stepped out anyway, his angel was more precious than the danger that was outside, but his mother emotionally manipulated him to stay and his brother was guarding him.

Right when the lockdown was taken off, Woohyun set out in search. He wasn’t in much luck, but after half an hour, he found Dahyun back at home.

“Where were you?!” He shouted in frustration, when he noticed her in the corner of the room, crouching on the ground and playing with some sticks. He was about to burst in tears, but held them back as he went closer to her, to inspect if she was alright.

She flinched as he touched her.

“Where were you Dahyun?” He asked, anger in his eyes. “I had told you to stay? Where had you gone and who brought you back here?”

She seemed to be about to cry, but Woohyun couldn’t be light on her. She needed to be taught to listen to him.

“Answer me.”

“I just went out for a while and there were some wild dogs and…”

“Oh god, are you hurt?” Woohyun inspected her closely.

She shook her head, her lips shaking with her trying to hold back sobs.

“Why did you go out baby? I was so worried.” Woohyun let the tears flow. He had not imagined Dahyun would disobey him like that.

She seemed really apologetic, but Woohyun was not satisfied with that. “I am sorry oppa.” She cried.

“I don’t want to talk to you.” Woohyun stood up, and walked away, sitting in the opposite corner of the room.

He was too exhausted with his worries for her. What if this incident repeated? She said there had been wild dogs. What if they had hurt her? He cried to himself for some time.

Looking up, he saw Dahyun was crying too, and he wanted her to stop crying. So he gave up and went to her.

She looked at him in anger though and pushed him away as he went close to her.

“So you don’t want to talk to oppa anymore?” Woohyun asked, wiping his tears.

“Oppa said he doesn’t talk to me. Go away!” She shouted.

“Okay.” Woohyun said, and went back to his corner to return to crying.

Dahyun got up slowly, and Woohyun was scared she would leave, but she only took her blanket and lied down at her place, trying to sleep.

When she seemed to be asleep, Woohyun shifted her to his bed, and went back to his corner. She had given him a shock and he was not sure how to make up with her. How could he request her to listen to him every time from now on? She probably needed a mother figure to look after her. And maybe Woohyun was not enough…

 

 

 

There had been a storm again the previous night, but it hadn’t been too harsh, so the surroundings were alright.

Sunggyu was too lazy to go out, and he decided he had to start working somewhere otherwise he wouldn’t be able to work at all if he got used to the inactivity. He had enough savings to go on for some months without having to work, but there was absolutely nothing he had to do the entire day, so getting a job was a good decision. But what job?

For that he had to consult Woohyun first. What he hoped was to return to the guard job, but he would do that only if Woohyun was willing to return to that job too. So he would have to ask the younger first.

But where was he?

Evening came and went and it was midnight.

Yet Woohyun had not come, and Sunggyu was upset and worried. It had been the only part of his day he had looked forward to in the past few days- meeting Woohyun. And he had missed the younger a lot yesterday.

Woohyun had only talked of one day off from their meetings. He had said he would return back today, but yet Sunggyu had only waited for the younger, to be disappointed after all.

Dongwoo had come to visit him today after a long time, and his friend had said that he had seen Woohyun around, that Woohyun was alive and existing. And that lifted some concerns Sunggyu had.

Yet, he was anxious that Woohyun had not come to meet him.

Was the younger tired of Sunggyu already?

No, Sunggyu had to trust him.

He decided to wait for another day.

 

 

 

The worry still lingered in his mind, but Woohyun had made up with Dahyun.

Dahyun had come to him crying yesterday in the morning when she woke up, and begged him to talk with her.

Woohyun in his drowsy state, had asked her to sleep and stop crying, but she cried more, and Woohyun had to calm her down.

They went to sleep again after that, and Woohyun had spent the morning cooking Dahyun a good breakfast. He also made a huge lunch of all her favourite foods she listed. He was spoiling her, but he wanted to let her enjoy for once. She had been living in sorrow for the past few days.

In the evening, he took her to the kids’ park to play. She made friends with Sungjong’s brother, and Woohyun sat on a bench looking at the kids. He soon joined with them in a game of soccer and had not noticed when it had been night time.

Only when he had reached home, had he realized that he had not gone to Sunggyu’s place at their decided time. That was not good, because he had missed the older a lot, having not met him the day before too. But while playing with the kids, he had lost track of the time, and it was not like he could have left Dahyun on her own anymore.

He was also worried about sending her to school.

But he couldn’t also neglect Sunggyu because of her.

Sunggyu still had some insecurities about their relationship. Though the older tried his hardest to work over them, even a slight problem could wreck what they had achieved so far, because they were still recovering from the pain they had gone through in the past.

Woohyun had missed Sunggyu truly. He had wondered that if Sunggyu had been by his side, would he have helped in handling Dahyun’s disappearance? The older would have provided him emotional support and also helped him look for his baby.

He had been wanting to ask Sunggyu to come to his place, but he was scared to leave Dahyun alone. Also he had still not informed Sunggyu about her, so he had to first prepare the older for that.

He wondered if Sunggyu missed him.

Of course he would, wouldn’t he?

As he tucked Dahyun into the bed, he wondered if he could take a quick trip to Sunggyu’s cabin, but he was still afraid to leave her alone, so he stayed back.

As morning came, the daily routine went on, except they had visitors today. Boohyun was visiting with someone.

And that someone was Mijoo.

It had been a while since Woohyun had seen her. There hadn’t been many opportunities to meet her, and whenever they would meet, Mijoo would only politely greet him. She had gotten over him pretty fast.

But the real surprising thing was that Boohyun introduced Mijoo as his girlfriend.

Woohyun almost choked on the water he was drinking.

“What?!”

Boohyun was eyeing him curiously, and Woohyun wondered if he should tell his brother that he had something with her at one point. But it was not even important.

“I know she liked you before Woo.” Boohyun said, as the two talked in a corner away from Mijoo who was teaching Dahyun a new game.

“How?” Woohyun asked.

“She told me about that.”

“Oh.”

“But she likes me now and said she has no feelings for you anymore.”

“I know that.”

“So are you fine with this? I like her Woo and I am seriously considering proposing to her.”

Oh that was a surprise. Woohyun was happy for his brother, but that reminded him that his own love life was lacking. He had not seen Sunggyu since the past two days, and it was the third day now. “I don’t have any issues. You know I love Sunggyu hyung right?”

“Oh about that. Mom and Dad were telling that they wanted to meet Sunggyu, since it has been a long time since they talked to him last.”

“Are they going to yell at him?”

“Are you not happy with him?”

“I am happy.”

“Then they probably won’t.”

“Good. Mijoo’s a nice girl.” Woohyun said, looking at her as she was playing with Dahyun.

“Yes.” Boohyun said dreamily.

Woohyun shoved him away, and returned to the kitchen to bring the food out.

 

 

 

Was he overreacting?

Sunggyu paced from one tree to another, his brows furrowed with thoughts invading his mind.

Three days had passed since he had last seen Woohyun and he couldn’t wait anymore. His heart ached for the younger. And he knew that the younger probably had genuine reasons to not be able to visit him, yet it hurt him.

He wanted to go to him, see if everything was alright, but Woohyun probably was too busy, and could Sunggyu go disturb him?

Since he had nothing to do, he had visited Sungjong’s family yesterday, but his entire day after that had been spent worrying about Woohyun.

It was the morning of fourth day now, and Sunggyu couldn’t handle the separation anymore. He wanted to go to Woohyun; even if the younger was free to give him only five minutes of his time, Sunggyu would be content with that.

With that in his mind, he set off to Woohyun’s place.

It was a Monday morning, so people were rushing off to their daily jobs.

Sunggyu felt like an unemployed loser, he had to soon change that.

It was only seven in the morning, and Sunggyu wondered if Woohyun would be awake. He realized he should have chosen a later time for the visit, but that could also lead to Woohyun having gone somewhere else, so he did not want to take the risk.

He would knock on the door, and if there was no answer, he would wait outside the house, for Woohyun to wake up to talk to him.

So he went up to the door and knocked a single time, hoping Woohyun was awake.

The door opened soon to reveal Woohyun clad in shorts, and a white sleeveless hoodie. He seemed to have been awake already.

Sunggyu’s heart was blooming in happiness just by looking at him.

The younger seemed surprised to see him, and was about to say something, when a voice called out from inside the house.

Woohyun turned back to the source of the voice and gestured back to the person.

Sunggyu was really curious as to who it was, because it was a lady’s voice, and a familiar one at that.

So he tiptoed to look over Woohyun’s shoulder, and was shocked to find out that it was Mijoo lying on Woohyun’s bed. She seemed to have just woken up, and was fixing her hair.

Sunggyu was too shocked to even reply to Woohyun as the younger greeted him with a good morning. Sunggyu did not even look at Woohyun’s face. He was looking down, trying to calm himself down.

“Hyung” Woohyun said concerned.

“I-I am not feeling well. I will talk to you later. Sorry to disturb you at this hour.” Sunggyu turned away.

There was a hold on his arm. “Sunggyu are you alright? Come inside. Is everything okay?”

“It’s just a headache. Don’t worry. I’ll meet you later.” Sunggyu did not wait for an answer and left the place soon.

 

 

 

The four had a breakfast cooked by Woohyun. After that, Boohyun and Mijoo stayed at his place while Woohyun went to drop off Dahyun to her school.

Dahyun was pretty excited, but she spoke about how nice it would have been if her mom had been there to send her off too and Woohyun assured her that her mom would be looking at her happily from heaven.

She smiled at that, and entered the school after giving Woohyun a kiss on his cheek.

Woohyun was still concerned about leaving her alone, but he had made her promise that she wouldn’t stray away from the school building and obey everything the teachers said.

Dahyun was a curious little girl, Woohyun had learnt that much, and that was a good thing, but she also had to learn how to control her curiosity and not let it affect her negatively. He hoped that would be learnt with time.

As he returned back to his house, he started thinking about what happened in the morning.

Sunggyu had come to visit him and Woohyun had been too happy, but then Sunggyu had abruptly decided that he would meet him later saying he was not well. And Woohyun had been worried since then.

He should have visited Sunggyu earlier. Seeing him on his door had really brightened his morning, and he had missed him so much that he wanted to go straight to Sunggyu now.

There was no Dahyun he had to worry about for the time being and his love deserved some care from him.

As he reached his house first, he noticed Mijoo leaning against the wall outside.

“Oh hello Woohyun oppa. Did Dahyun go to school without problems?”

“Yes. She was excited to go too.” he said, smiling at her. “Where’s hyung”

“Oh Boohyun oppa left for his job. He was already late, and he asked me to pass this to you when you returned.” She handed a piece of paper to him.

Woohyun opened it to find out that it was a letter addressed to him from the guard force.

“He said he had wanted to give it yesterday but forgot about it.”

“Oh that’s fine. Thanks for waiting.”

“That’s no problem. Thanks for letting us stay over at your place for the night.”

“Oh that was nothing. Dahyun wanted to play with you after all and I can’t say no to her.” He said.

Mijoo smiled at that and was about to leave, when she seemed to have remembered something, “Um Woohyun oppa, who was at the door this morning?”

“Why do you ask that?” Woohyun asked. She was talking about Sunggyu and Woohyun wondered why she wanted to know that.

“Because that person saw me. I don’t know if that would be a problem, just saying.”

“Oh okay. Thanks for informing.” Woohyun bid her goodbye. He was confused about why there would be a problem with anyone seeing Mijoo at his place, but yes, people might mistake that the two were in a relationship, especially since Boohyun had not been there at that time.

Wait.

Sunggyu had seen Mijoo.

Sunggyu had seen Mijoo on Woohyun’s bed.

Shit.

 

 

 

There was nothing he could do but laugh at the state of his old house.

He should actually give it out to someone, since he never used it anymore. But the house held a lot of memories for him and a lot of other people too.

Usually, the village would allocate an unoccupied house to other villagers if it remained unoccupied for a long time. But they had never once asked Sunggyu whether the house was free to be transferred. Probably because they valued Sunggyu’s father’s contribution.

Sunggyu had no key to enter the house, so he just walked around it, and sat down on the verandah.

He wanted to avoid going to his cabin on the hill because then he would have nothing to do, and he would be consumed by his thoughts there.

He could go disturb his friends or Sungjong’s family nearby, but he wasn’t even in the mood to meet anyone.

But even staying away from his cabin brought no respite to him because he was still thinking about today’s incident.

He was sure there had to be some reason Mijoo was in Woohyun’s house. Woohyun would never cheat on him. There was the possibility of the younger having drunk and things could have escalated from there…

But Sunggyu was absolutely sure Woohyun wouldn’t cheat on him.

Yet the image of Mijoo on Woohyun’s bed gave him an unpleasant feeling because the two had been together once before, even if there hadn’t been anything between them. And Sunggyu couldn’t even wrap his head around any theories and reasons he thought for her presence there to be justified.

Yet, he believed in Woohyun.

And he missed the younger too much.

Now he felt like he should have stayed then. Woohyun would have explained the situation to him, and then they could have spent at least a few minutes together.

That would have been so much better than this.

But then he had been too overwhelmed.

Damn.

 

 

 

It was around noon when he reached his cabin.

Sunggyu had wandered throughout the village, going through secret and unused roads, successfully avoiding contact with people.

Yet he had come across some old neighbours and had to have small talk with them.

Now he finally reached his cabin, and he was not even tired enough after roaming around, yet he wanted to just lie down and go to sleep.

He was wide awake though when his eyes caught the sight of a person sitting in front of the cabin.

As he went nearer, he recognized it to be Woohyun.

Before he could gather himself to face the younger, Woohyun noticed him and ran to him.

“Hyung” Woohyun’s voice screamed worry.

And Sunggyu felt sorry for lying to him about not being well. It was not a lie per se, since he had actually not felt well enough to maintain a conversation at that time.

“How are you feeling now?” Woohyun came to a stop in front of him.

Sunggyu wanted to make the creases on his forehead disappear. “I am alright. It was just a thing of the moment.”

“Are you sure?” Woohyun asked, holding his right arm and bringing him forward as if checking if he was saying the truth.

“Yes.” Sunggyu replied. He was too busy looking at Woohyun to talk more. He wanted to bring the younger in his arms already.

Woohyun did that for him, leaning onto his chest, and encircling his hands over Sunggyu’s waist.

Sunggyu brought him closer, clinging onto him. He had so very missed his love. “Woohyun ah”

“Gyu” Woohyun mumbled into his shoulder.

“I missed you so much”

“You should have come to me sooner.”

“Were you waiting for me to come?”

“I wanted to go to you but I was busy. I missed you so much hyung.”

“Me too.” Sunggyu said, breathing in Woohyun’s scent. He tried to withdraw from the hug, so they could talk inside the cabin, but Woohyun did not let go of him. “Baby I think we should go inside.” Sunggyu said, rubbing his back.

Woohyun nodded and let go of him, but clung on to his arm.

Once they were inside, Woohyun did not give him one chance to speak, before Sunggyu was tackled onto the mattress.

The pair of hands were touching him all over as Woohyun’s tongue entered his mouth at the same time.

It did not help that Sunggyu had been pining for Woohyun for the past days, because now all he could feel was Woohyun, and his body reacted to that excitedly.

Sunggyu took the initiative and slipped his hands under Woohyun’s shirt. It was hard to concentrate on that as the younger was on top of him, almost glued to him.

So despite how much he loved the teasing hands currently stroking the inner side of Sunggyu’s thigh, Sunggyu flipped their positions, continuing with the kissing.

His hands slipped under Woohyun’s shirt, and wandered to the perky buds.

“Oh” Woohyun said into Sunggyu’s mouth as Sunggyu’s fingers pinched his nipples.

Sunggyu took his time with them, twisting them and pinching them as much as he wanted to, and then revealed Woohyun’s chest completely, so he could also lick the nipples.

Woohyun moaned out loud as his mouth was free now, but also because of how Sunggyu grinded on top of him.

Sunggyu’s hand soon pulled down the zipper of Woohyun’s jeans and palmed his clothed member.

Woohyun screamed his name, and Sunggyu couldn’t have been more aroused. He moved down to remove Woohyun’s jeans and the briefs, and the younger helped him in doing that.

Before he could lean down though, Woohyun cupped his cheeks and brought him closer. He stared straight into Sunggyu’s soul with his hooded eyes. “Think only of me Sunggyu” He said. “I am yours.”

The atmosphere turned even more heated after that. Sunggyu was soon spreading apart Woohyun’s legs and started stroking Woohyun’s half hard member. Precum was already leaking from the member, and Sunggyu took in the wet cock in his mouth completely.

It almost made him gag. It had been so long since he had last done that and Woohyun was not exactly small there.

Sunggyu was taking his sweet little time to adjust to the huge thing in his mouth.

Meanwhile Woohyun had grabbed him by the hair and was tugging him to move. “Gyu” He cried out desperately. “Please”

Sunggyu gave him a smirk and started blowing. He wanted Woohyun to come in his mouth. He had been too thirsty for him already.

It took him only a little sucking and stroking and Woohyun came soon in his mouth, crying out his name.

 

 

 

Seeing his load dripping out of Sunggyu’s mouth was the most disgusting yet the sexiest thing ever. Woohyun would have kissed him right there and then, but he needed other stuff in his mouth. And fast.

He pushed Sunggyu down and took no time in pulling down whatever covered Sunggyu’s lower body.

He was so going to enjoy doing this. His member was already twitching again at the sight of the huge red member in front of him.

Making Sunggyu lie down, he grabbed hold of the base of his member with his hands, and downed as much of the length as he could into his mouth.

Sunggyu let out a gasp and Woohyun couldn’t wait to hear more dirty sounds from him.

He pulled out, as if his first try had been only to gauge how much of the length he could fit into his mouth. It had been a while after all.

Slowly, he started licking over the shaft and pumping it at the same time. Swirling his tongue around the tip, he stroked his balls too, gaining a groan from Sunggyu.

He returned to using his mouth, licking the underside of the member, and going on to envelop the whole of it in his mouth.

“Woo-hyun I can’t…”

And soon enough, Sunggyu was shooting his release into Woohyun’s mouth which Woohyun lapped up all as if he had been hungry for that.

He kissed Sunggyu on the mouth and it was nasty, but it felt so good, and perfect.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the village, a small girl waited for her guardian to pick her up.

The teachers asked her if she needed to be dropped home, but she said her oppa had told her he would be coming.

So she waited with her chin on her hands.

A tall shadow loomed over her, unbeknownst to her, as she started on her homework for the day.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bad p double u p in the end lol


	11. 10. reach

 

 

 

It was so stupid yet satisfying, as they lied down cuddling.

After getting cleaned up, Sunggyu had been feeling extremely shy to face Woohyun, because even though he had been so confident before, now he felt embarrassed all of a sudden.

It had been so long since they had been together like that, that it made him feel as if everything was new. He was accustomed to all of it, but it would take him some time to regain the confidence.

Woohyun looked no better, as he was sitting on the edge of the mattress, his legs on the ground nervously shaking.

Sunggyu could see that the tips of the younger’s ears were red.

He gave the younger a backhug, and Woohyun let out some random nonsense, as Sunggyu bit into his neck. “What?” Sunggyu asked, continuing on nipping at that area.

“Don’t do that. People will be able to see it.” Woohyun said, in a low breathless voice.

“Let them see. They’ll know you are taken then.” Sunggyu said.

“They have always known that.” Woohyun replied.

That took Sunggyu by a surprise, and he flopped Woohyun down on the mattress, lying on top of him, just aiming to cuddle with him.

Woohyun let out some sounds of protest, but he was also enthusiastically rolling around with Sunggyu, eagerly grabbing hold of him.

“I missed you so much.” Sunggyu said.

Woohyun snuggled closer to him. “Why are you still so soft and squishy?”

Sunggyu made a sound of indignation. “Don’t call me that.” He whined.

“You are my teddy bear hyung.” Woohyun chuckled, opening his arms wide and hugging Sunggyu dramatically.

Sunggyu was about to protest, but Woohyun continued.

“But seriously you are still so soft, but why do you look so ill?” Woohyun asked concerned. “You actually seemed ill in the morning.”

Sunggyu had not noticed that about himself, but it could have been because of him skipping meals in the past few days. Now that he remembered, the only times he had eaten in the past three days was when he had been with Dongwoo and when he had visited Sungjong’s family. Other than that, he had not been in the mood to do anything, even eat. And that was actually surprising since Sunggyu would usually eat more if he was not feeling right.

“Hyung”

“I wasn’t eating properly. It’s nothing serious.”

“Do you have any issues with your stomach?”

“No. I was just too frustrated to eat. I was missing you a lot.”

Woohyun pulled away from him in anger. “That is not fair. You are lying right?”

Sunggyu was not sure what to answer. “Forget about it.”

“Hyung I am busy, so I can’t come to check on you. But I’ll request my mom to prepare meals you for the next few days. Okay?”

“No.” Sunggyu was flabbergasted. “I’ll take care of myself. You don’t need to ask your mom to do that.”

“My parents wanted to meet you anyway.”

“Oh. I’ll go with you one day.”

Woohyun nodded. “But promise to take care of yourself?”

“Promise.” Sunggyu said. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask Woohyun what stuff he was busy with, but he couldn’t find the courage to do so. But he had to ask about something else first. “I think I saw Mijoo at your place in the morning today.” He said nonchalantly, trying to not make it seem like he was accusing the younger or something.

“Oh.” Woohyun seemed to want to talk about that too. “The thing is, Boohyun hyung and Mijoo are a couple now.”

“What?” It did not make sense. “Are you sure?”

“Why would I be unsure of it?” Woohyun laughed. “Boohyun hyung told me about it, and they were staying at my place since yesterday, which is why she had been there in my house in the morning.”

Sunggyu was relieved at the explanation. It was still very weird that the two were dating, considering Mijoo had a thing for Woohyun before, but who was Sunggyu to judge people?

“Were you jealous?” Woohyun asked. He looked nervous, and Sunggyu couldn’t help but wonder why.

“No.” Sunggyu replied. “I was just a bit confused about it.”

“That’s it?” Woohyun asked perplexed. “Were you not angry?”

“Why would I be?”

“Uh…”

“Should I be?”

“No… n-no” Woohyun stuttered.

Sunggyu got up and put his body weight totally on Woohyun. The younger struggled to get him off, since Sunggyu was lying as a dead weight, but Sunggyu did not heed him. “This is your punishment.” He said. “For staying away from me for so long.”

Woohyun gave up on struggling.

“I… was a bit sad at first when I saw her there, but I missed you more than anything.” Sunggyu placed a kiss on Woohyun’s nose. “And that feeling made me forget everything else. I only wanted to talk to you as soon as possible.”

“Sorry.” Woohyun apologized.

“Just don’t do that again.” Sunggyu said as a request.

Woohyun looked guiltily. “I will try but there could be times I won’t be able to make it because-” A look of horror washed over Woohyun’s face. He suddenly sat up, “What time is it?”

Sunggyu had fallen over from Woohyun, and looked at Woohyun rushing out of the cabin.

The younger returned back after a minute. He seemed distressed. “I have to go now urgently.”

Sunggyu tried to hold him back. “Where do you have to go? Is everything alright?”

“I’ll talk to you about it later. I don’t have time now hyung.” Woohyun was already out of the house.

“I’ll come with you.” Sunggyu followed him.

“No. Please stay here. I’ll come back to you at night. Wait for me until then.”

Sunggyu tried to protest, but Woohyun brought him close and placed a long kiss on his lips. “Please.” He requested, and ran away from Sunggyu.

 

 

 

The school grounds were deserted, and Woohyun rushed into the staff room.

There were just two teachers inside the room, both busy with their work. Upon noticing Woohyun’s presence, one of them, an old man, Woohyun’s old teacher, stood up. “Ah Woohyun ah. Why are you here?” He greeted him cheerfully.

“Dahyun… where is she?” Woohyun asked.

“Oh is that girl your child? She was sitting there outside the room. You should have met her on the way in.” he said.

Woohyun began sweating at that. “She was not there outside.”

The other teacher, a young lady, stood up from her seat. “She was right there Mister. I talked to her just minutes ago.”

Woohyun wondered if Dahyun had again wandered off on her own, but she had promised him she wouldn’t do that. So his nervousness grew. He went outside to check around, but there was nothing to indicate her presence.

Some distance away from the school, he came across her bag lying down on the ground. Her books and pencils were lying down out of the bag, and the sight brought chills to the core of Woohyun’s body.

The lady teacher was right behind him.

“Are you responsible for looking after the students?” He asked.

She answered in affirmative nervously.

“What kind of irresponsibility is this then? Where is my Dahyun?” He was about to give her a long lecture but he had no time for that.

The lady looked really apologetic. “I asked her to stay inside with me, but she said her brother would come soon to pick her up and she wanted to wait outside.”

“But even if she said that, you should still accompany her, shouldn’t you?”

He argued.

“It’s generally safe outside. She must have just gone somewhere nearby.”

Woohyun pointed her to the fallen bag and shook his head in frustration. There was no point in arguing with her. He set off on his own to find Dahyun. It was majorly his fault for losing track of time. He only hoped his baby was safe.

 

 

 

Sunggyu was majorly pissed off, because though he had spent some good time with Woohyun some time ago, yet the younger seemed very worried about something, and Sunggyu hated not knowing what Woohyun was thinking about.

Before, Woohyun would come to him with most of his problems, but now it was like the younger had distanced a little from Sunggyu. He couldn’t blame him though. Sunggyu had not shared a large amount of his worries with Woohyun, and now that Woohyun was doing the same to him, he couldn’t complain.

Yet it did not make him feel good at all.

He could probably beg Woohyun to talk about it when he came back to Sunggyu at night. There was nothing Sunggyu could do at the moment, especially since he did not know where Woohyun had been headed.

It was not like he could have followed him after the younger had specifically asked him not to.

So Sunggyu was walking towards his family home again for the second time today.

He had decided to get it cleaned a bit, since he had already neglected it too much.

So armed with the house keys and some cleaning supplies, he made his way into the house.

The house was not a single room one, so it would take long.

Sunggyu decided to start with the outside of the house. Taking a duster in his hand, he opened the front door to head out, when he noticed something running towards his direction.

That was weird.

Sunggyu wondered if it was an animal, and he was not really good at calming down animals, so he wondered if he should shut the door, before it reached him, but he realized that it was the kid he had met some days before who was running towards his direction. It was Dubu.

She seemed to be running aimlessly, but her eyes caught sight of Sunggyu soon, and she ran with focus at him. Her eyes were wide with fear, and Sunggyu was too worried about her.

Was she being chased by a dog?

As soon as she reached him, he was about to ask her what the matter was, but she held his hand and tried to pull him inside the house.

She seemed to be in a rush, so Sunggyu obeyed her, letting her lead him inside.

She frantically shut the door behind, then going to check if the windows were locked too.

Sunggyu eyed her curiously.

“Dubu, what’s the matter?”

She indicated him to keep quiet and brought him to the bedroom.

He followed her wordlessly, and bent down to her level, once she stopped. “Is there something wrong?”

“A man was following me.” She said.

That made a lot of warning bells ring in Sunggyu’s head. “Where? Outside? Tell me who it is. I’ll take care proper care of him.” He cracked his knuckles.

“No. Don’t go outside.” She folded her hands in request. She seemed really distressed. So Sunggyu made her sit on the bed.

“Tell me what happened.”

She looked a bit anxious, but then indicated him to come closer.

Then she narrated the situation to him.

She had been outside her school waiting for her oppa to pick her up when some man had placed a hand over her mouth and began dragging her away. She had bitten on his hand and punched him in the eyes to run away.

Sunggyu wanted to give her a medal of bravery for that. He hugged her. “You are safe now. Don’t worry. Oppa will not let him hurt you. I’ll go look around outside.”

“No don’t go please Sunggyu oppa.” She requested holding his hands.

Sunggyu was surprised to know she knew his name, when he did not know her name yet, but she must have learnt it when Heechul had come to his cabin. It felt nice to hear her speak his name. “I can handle him.” He assured her. “I am not weak.”

“He had a lot of weapons.” She said worried. “Please don’t go. You will get hurt.”

If that person would be roaming around free with weapons like that, there were chances other kids might get kidnapped, so Sunggyu had to go outside. He could not obey Dubu this time. “Listen, he might hurt other kids like you, if oppa doesn’t stop him. So I have to go. You stay here. I promise that I’ll come back.”

Dubu was not happy about that, and kept on making begging eyes even as he left the house.

Sunggyu had no time to think about that.

In an unsuspicious way, he tried to look around the area for some clues. If the man would come to know that Sunggyu was looking for him, it might get dangerous for both Dubu and him, so Sunggyu had to conduct his search lying low.

There was nothing he could find even after ten minutes of search, and there was a possibility that the man was looking at him from some hiding place, so Sunggyu returned back to his house.

Dubu looked relieved to see him back, and made him sit at the chair in the living room, as if guarding him.

Sunggyu made her sit in the next chair, and handed her a kids’ story book from his collections to read. It was not like they could talk at the moment. Their voices would be heard outside.

Sunggyu had informed to a guard who was in the area about the incident, and the guard had assured him they would look after the matter.

So he could only wait for some time.

He wondered how irresponsible Dubu’s oppa was to let her get into dangerous situations so many times, but it was not like he could scold that person without knowing he who he was, and he doubted Dubu would tell that to him.

 

 

 

After a tiring three hours of search, Woohyun was finally reunited with Dahyun.

He walked her back home as he kept an eye on the surroundings.

The guards had brought her to him, informing him that there had been an attempt to kidnap her, and Dahyun had managed to run away by attacking the kidnapper, and by hiding in some villager’s house.

That had been a relief.

But there was a huge cause of worry now.

Up till now, their village had been an entirely safe haven for people to live. The existence of a kidnapper came as a shock. There was no reason for anyone in the village to kidnap kids. People lived their lives peacefully there. There was not a single person who slept hungry, because the village had taken painstaking effort to have at least one member of every family employed. So there wasn’t any reason to be greedy for money, unless of course the person wanted a large amount of money.

But Woohyun believed that someone from outside had entered the village, and that was scary, because they might even kill Dahyun now. She had seen the man’s face, and had given the guards a rough idea of how he looked like.

She might be able to recognize the man anywhere, so the kidnapper would definitely want to kill her. Which is why, Woohyun had intimated to her school that she wouldn’t be attending for some time. They excused it understandably.

And Dahyun looked sad, but did not complain. She must have been scared too.

Woohyun had tried to ask her who had helped her hide, so he could thank the person personally, but she had only replied with ‘some oppa’, so he thought she might not know the person’s name.

Once after they reached home, Woohyun ordered her to not go out of his sight, and she agreed to that.

She also asked him to stay careful, and Woohyun realized she was right. The kidnapper might hurt him too.

So they promised each other that they would be fine, and after Woohyun was done fitting grills at the windows, and bolting the main door shut with stronger locks, only then did he go to sleep.

 

 

 

Was their relationship at a point of breaking?

Sunggyu couldn’t help but wonder about that. He had almost stayed up the entire night waiting for Woohyun in his cabin.

He had wanted to meet the younger so he could talk about the incident from before to him.

It had shaken Sunggyu and he was really worried about Dubu too.

The guards had assured him that they would be keeping an eye on her from a distance, but the worry still gnawed him. He realized he did not even know where she lived so he could check up on her whenever he could.

Making a mental note to ask that to the guards later, he decided to finally sleep as the sun’s rays entered his house through the open curtains on the windows of his cabin.

Woohyun might not come now.

That added to the stress of the incident from before and he hoped he would go to sleep soon so he wouldn’t have to think about that.

 

 

 

Two days later, Sunggyu gave up and walked to Woohyun’s house. He would finally ask the younger what the matter was.

There should be some problem Woohyun was in, otherwise he wouldn’t be neglecting Sunggyu like that, especially when his eyes still showed love for him, and when he had also assured him he missed him and would come back to him soon.

Yet he hadn’t come to Sunggyu at all, and since none of his friends answered his questions too, he decided to get the answer from Woohyun himself.

Except when he reached the younger’s house, it was locked and there was no one there.

The lock was from outside so Sunggyu decided to wait for some time.

But minutes passed into hours, and Woohyun wasn’t there even after an hour.

Sunggyu enquired about it to the residents of the house which was the closest from there, and they told him that Woohyun had left the house yesterday.

That had made Sunggyu really worried, and the neighbours did not even know anything about the reason and where Woohyun could be now.

So Sunggyu had gone to Dongwoo and requested him to tell him if something was wrong with Woohyun.

The older had only replied that he couldn’t reveal anything about the matter to Sunggyu since Sunggyu wasn’t a guard now.

Sunggyu had wanted to shout that he was Dongwoo’s friend, but he knew guards weren’t supposed to divulge secret information to anyone. Dongwoo was doing right. But…

“I am a related party here.” He complained. If the guards were involved meant the matter was serious, and it was serious judging from Dongwoo’s expression. He was trying to get Dongwoo to reveal the info. Related parties to the people involved in a case were allowed to have information of the case.

“How are you related to Woohyun?” Dongwoo asked.

Sunggyu wanted to say the answer was obvious, but he realized it wasn’t obvious. What was he to Woohyun?

Could he call himself Woohyun’s boyfriend?

Sunggyu had confessed to Woohyun and Woohyun returned the love too, but there was no official tag their relationship had. Were they still friends who used each other? That thought brought a sour taste in Sunggyu’s mouth.

Woohyun had after all not decided to share his problem with him. It made him feel like an outsider. And he left Dongwoo’s place with a heavy heart.

He went to Woohyun’s family home to see if there was any luck there, but that house was unoccupied too shockingly.

Sungjong’s family had no idea of the matter, and Sunggyu could only curse his fate.

As he walked back home in his gloomy state, the hair on his body stood up as he felt like he was being watched.

His intuition was always right in such cases, and this was a terrible timing to be watched by someone, since he was in a deserted area at the moment.

It was eight in the night, and there was darkness everywhere and the thought that it could be the kidnapper looking at him, made him feel scared, but Sunggyu could possibly take care of the person, couldn’t he?

He tried not to let it know to the person that he had known of their presence.

There was suddenly the sound of footsteps behind him, and Sunggyu wanted to laugh at the person for being an amateur. Who walked with so loud footsteps while stalking someone?

He was so ready to take them down, as the footsteps stopped right behind him, but something was wrong.

He turned around to see that it was Woohyun standing behind him.

The younger was about to speak something, when Sunggyu caught sight of something coming to strike at Woohyun from behind.

He pulled aside Woohyun as fast as he could and whatever weapon it was, probably a machete, barely grazed Sunggyu’s body.

The two did not waste any time, and were soon hiding, taking their positions covered in the thick trees, in the direction opposite of where the weapon had been aimed from.

Sunggyu couldn’t pretend to be oblivious anymore since there had been an attack already, and it was better he was fully alert.

He hoped the attacker would show themselves soon, so Sunggyu could already restrain or kill them. He was used to having to kill people to. It was a part of a guards’ duty.

Some thieves were too dangerous and wouldn’t give up unless killed and so guards had no choice but to kill them.

And someone was going to die tonight.

Sunggyu was going to make sure that the person dying would neither be him nor Woohyun.

 

 

 

A low sound of bushes being brushed apart came from behind Woohyun.

Sunggyu was at a distance considerably away from him and there was no way Woohyun could signal to him that there was danger right behind him.

He waited for two seconds, and rolled away from his position, missing the attacker who had tried to jump on him, a huge spear in his hand.

The spear reminded Woohyun of Sunggyu’s mother because it was in the same design as hers.

Woohyun shook off the thought, and jumped at the man.

There was danger in doing that because the man had a lot of weapons on him, but Woohyun couldn’t care less. It was most likely the same man who had tried to kidnap his Dahyun, and Woohyun wanted to kill him already. He kicked and punched him and continued with more of that even after the man was unconscious.

He only stopped when Sunggyu came to him and pulled him away from the man.

Woohyun wanted to land a few more punches on the man, but the man looked like he would soon die. He was very thin, and already had many injuries over his body.

Sunggyu asked Woohyun to stay there, and went away for a while. He returned with a huge rope and tied it around the man tightly.

The two carried the man halfway to a nearby guard post, but the guards came to assist them after that.

Woohyun asked Sunggyu to leave, since he would look after the matter from there on.

Sunggyu looked really hurt, and Woohyun could understand him. He had been pushing him away too much, but Woohyun hoped to explain everything to Sunggyu calmly. He could probably do that tomorrow itself since the man was captured and they were safe now.

If Sunggyu accompanied them now, he would come to know of Dahyun since the guards were going to take the man to her so she could identify if he was the kidnapper.

Woohyun did not want to give the older a sudden shock like that.

Sunggyu’s face fell and became small, and Woohyun wanted to give him a hug, but the guards were waiting for him to follow them.

“Hyung” he tried to think of words to explain.

“It’s fine, I understand” Sunggyu said, and took his leave from there.

 

 

 

The rest of Sunggyu’s night did not go as terrible. He had an unexpected visitor, his mother had come to meet him after so long, and even though Sunggyu was concerned that she had come at this time, when it had been unsafe in the village, he was also really happy to see her.

He spent the night relaying her about how he had quit his guard job and was now sitting unemployed at home. He also talked of his friends. He avoided mentioning the reason for anything. It made no sense without giving reasons, but yet she took it all calmly in.

Sunggyu had not given her a single information about him and Woohyun being together, yet the first question, she had asked was, “Why isn’t Woohyun with you?”

It was like she understood they were meant to be a couple. Or maybe Dongwoo _had_ spilled everything to her.

Sunggyu avoided answering that question and asked her about stuff at her place.

 

 

 

It turned out that the man was an outsider who was trying to obtain ransom money from the villagers.

The man was jailed now for life in the village since he had attempted to harm villagers too, and Gwangju took the safety of its villagers seriously.

Woohyun was satisfied with the outcome. He would no longer have to be constantly worried about Dahyun.

The past few days had been crazy. His entire family had been in hiding at Sungyeol’s place, and Woohyun had not even been able to contact Sunggyu too.

Now it gave him chills that the kidnapper had entered the village through the hill route. Gwangju had so far not given enough protection to that side of the connection to the outside world, since it was difficult to cross, yet this kidnapper had managed to come through there.

And Sunggyu’s cabin was right in the route.

What if Sunggyu had come across the kidnapper somehow while the latter had entered their settlement and what if the man had hurt Sunggyu?

Even the thought worried Woohyun.

He had been worrying about Sunggyu’s emotional state too the past days.

Woohyun had not been giving the older proper attention. He had not been giving him any attention at all, in fact.

It must have hurt Sunggyu a lot.

They should have been spending time with each other since they just got together, but instead it had been hard to even meet once a day.

The one time Woohyun had taken out time for Sunggyu had ended up leading to Dahyun almost being kidnapped, so it was not like Woohyun had any choice.

Except he could ask Sunggyu to come to him.

He could introduce him to her.

And maybe one day, they could live as a family together.

But he was also scared.

He wasn’t really sure if Sunggyu wanted kids and that too, so soon.

What if Sunggyu did not like her presence in their lives? What if Dahyun did not like Sunggyu?

There were a lot of concerns like that invading Woohyun’s mind. Yet it was for the best if Woohyun solved the problem as quickly as possible. He was only hurting both parties like that.

He wasn’t able to care for Dahyun properly because of being worried about Sunggyu, and he was also hurting Sunggyu by neglecting him for her.

So he asked Sungyeol and Myungsoo to look after Dahyun for the time being, and headed towards Sunggyu’s house.

It was eight in the morning and Sunggyu might not be awake yet.

But Woohyun couldn’t wait any longer.

Especially after he had seen Sunggyu yesterday after so long.

Woohyun had disappeared after assuring Sunggyu he would return to him, and that must have pained Sunggyu.

And it had been visible on his face too.

Woohyun had been taking a look around the village yesterday because some villagers had sighted an unknown man.

Despite the guards asking him not to step out, he had wanted to hunt for the man on his own too, and that’s when he had sighted the man peering through the thickets at Sunggyu.

He had hoped to go to Sunggyu and warn him through signs about it, but the man had attacked just then.

Now thankfully, the matter was sorted, and no one was hurt.

Because yesterday he had been terribly scared for Sunggyu’s life. The man who had almost kidnapped his Dahyun had been aiming to hurt his Sunggyu too for whatever reasons, and that had scared the shit out of Woohyun.

As he reached close to the cabin, he was pleasantly surprised to see Kyungran sharpening her spear on a rock.

She noticed him and smiled at him.

After they exchanged greetings, they went into talks of more personal stuff.

Woohyun had a feeling she knew about him and Sunggyu, but she did not speak about it outright.

Sunggyu was deep in sleep inside the cabin, and neither of the two wanted to disturb him from his sleep.

“I have been thinking Sunggyu needs to get married soon.” Kyungran voiced out, as she and Woohyun were plucking some fruits from the trees nearby.

Woohyun almost stumbled on a branch, but caught his footing as he jumped down effortlessly. “Why?” He asked.

“He’s only getting older, and then there won’t be enough women left for him to choose from, since most of the females here get married soon.”

Woohyun was not sure if he wanted to tell her that Sunggyu was doing pretty gay stuff with him.

“Or men too get into relationships here soon right?” She asked.

Woohyun just nodded along.

“I wouldn’t mind a man for him too. He needs someone who can control him, that’s all I need.” She said.

Woohyun wanted to run away. “What do you mean?”

“He is too stubborn, isn’t he?”

“Yes.” Woohyun agreed. It was the truth.

“Woohyun ah, what do you think of Sunggyu?”

What? She could be asking about Sunggyu as a person. So Woohyun calmed himself down and replied, “He’s good.”

“Is that so? Will you marry him? You two will make a good pair.” She said.

And Woohyun was blushing now. Did she have any idea what she was talking about? He wasn’t really sure, if she knew, but with the way she spoke, she had to have some clue. “Excuse me?” He said.

“I am not lying. Can you hurry up already? I want grandkids to pamper.” She said, and left Woohyun to rot with the images in his head.

 

 

 

Woohyun returned to the cabin at around noon time.

Kyungran had already left their village by then, having promised to return soon. And only Sunggyu was in the cabin as Woohyun had knocked on the door.

They sat down on the ground, leaning on the wall.

Sunggyu looked well rested, but his eyes showed nervousness as he looked at Woohyun.

As soon as Woohyun looked at him, Sunggyu burst out, “Are you going to break up with me?”

What? That made Woohyun upset. He looked at Sunggyu cross. “Why are you asking that?”

“I-I…” Sunggyu looked down. “I don’t think this is the case, but sometimes I wonder if there’s any love between us anymore. I don’t want to doubt you. I want to trust you. But the doubts consume my mind, and I want you by my side Woohyun, during tough times, but you are not there, and when I approach you, you try to stay away. Do you not want me anymore?”

Woohyun was extremely upset at that. After all the pain they had gone through, after Sunggyu had accepted Woohyun loved him, that they were still back at the same question, made him dejected.

Sunggyu looked apologetic. “I am sorry.”

But Woohyun could totally understand Sunggyu at the same time. Woohyun knew he had fucked up in the past days and not given attention to Sunggyu, and it was a wonder the older had been able to hold his worries in till now.

So he went to Sunggyu and sat in front of him, caressing his face.

Sunggyu looked at him in wonder.

“I love you Sunggyu.” Woohyun said, ending all doubts.

Sunggyu looked happier at that, and a bit guilty, but as he had received the assurance he needed so badly, he broke up into a cute smile.

Woohyun wanted to kiss him already, oh how much he had missed that. So he took Sunggyu’s lower lip between his teeth sucking on it. “I want you so much Sunggyu.” He said.

Sunggyu agreed with that, by placing their mouths together completely.

It was a wild kiss with a lot of things involved.

At one time, it was Woohyun invading Sunggyu’s mouth with his tongue, and at the other time, Sunggyu biting on Woohyun’s lower lip. Or it was Woohyun sucking at Sunggyu’s collarbone, and then Sunggyu taking in Woohyun’s earlobe and biting it.

It was like they were two parts of the same body, when they separated, and with the way Sunggyu licked his lips looking at Woohyun with lust filled eyes, Woohyun knew he had to bring up his topic soon before they moved on to eye fucking each other.

So he withdrew from Sunggyu, while whining at the separation himself, and said, “Hyung I have something to talk to you about.”

Sunggyu looked all attentive at him at that.

And Woohyun was too nervous to have those eyes looking at him with the piercing gaze. He managed to say out, “I have a daughter now.”

And Sunggyu looked like he was about to die of laughter.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idt anyone here reads this anymore, but still updating...


	12. 11. know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shortest update

 

 

 

Had Woohyun gone crazy? Why was he cracking up jokes like that? Sunggyu thought it must be because he had brought the mood down with his anxiety about their relationship, which is why Woohyun was trying to joke.

He calmed down from his laughter, and was confused to see Woohyun being all serious.

“I don’t understand…” Sunggyu said.

“I…” Woohyun started, but then stopped.

“Hyun”

“You remember the day I came to you in the night? When I had returned from my trip?” Woohyun began.

“Yes.” Later that night, Sunggyu had confessed his love for Woohyun. How could he forget that?

“During the trip, there was this one girl who I saved from zombies.”

Sunggyu vaguely remembered Woohyun talking about that.

“Her mom had turned into one then, and she had nowhere to go. So I brought her with me.”

Oh. “So she’s staying with you for the time being?” Sunggyu asked. It was like Woohyun to be too worried about people.

“She’s staying. And she won’t be leaving.” Woohyun said.

“What do you mean?” Sunggyu asked.

“It’s wrong to call her my daughter. I am not her father. But it’s as good as that, because I am officially her guardian now.”

“So are your parents going to take care of her?” Sunggyu asked. Woohyun’s parents liked kids and both of their children were now grown up, so they would be welcome to the idea of a kid in their house. It would make the house lively.

“No. She will be staying with me. I’ll be looking after her.” Woohyun said.

That was… not what Sunggyu was expecting. Wait… If Woohyun was going to be looking after her then, “She’ll be living with you forever?” Sunggyu asked shocked.

“Y-yes.” Woohyun said nervously.

The answer did not make Sunggyu happy. What was Woohyun thinking, to adopt a kid now of all times? The two did not have enough time to sort out the mess of their relationship, and with a child in the equation, their relationship might hit the rock bottom. This was not going to end well.

“It’s a girl. She’s nine years old. She’s smart and cute, like you.” Woohyun supplied.

Sunggyu would have countered with ‘like you’, but he was too busy processing the implications of Woohyun’s words. “Woohyun is this a joke? Are you serious?”

“I am not lying hyung.” Woohyun said guiltily.

“Why?” Sunggyu asked. He was tired, tired of having another hurdle in his path to find love with Woohyun. It wasn’t nice to think of a child as a hurdle, but that’s what she was going to end up as, there was no way they wouldn’t grow further apart due to this.

“Because she had no one Sunggyu. She had no one she knew alive. And I did not want her to live a lonely life.”

“So you took her in because of pity? You could as well adopt all the children in the orphanage here in that case.”

Woohyun looked offended at that. “I would if I could. But I obviously can’t look after so many kids, and our village’s doing a good job looking at the orphans.”

“So you could have enrolled her there.”

“But she knew me and had grown close to me. I did not want to let her feel all alone in the world. And I had started to care for her too!”

Sunggyu stood up frustrated. “I don’t know Woohyun ah.”

Woohyun stood up too. “What do you mean?”

“I am not sure about anything anymore. Do we have a future together?” Sunggyu asked. It was too early to arrive at conclusions like that, but Sunggyu realized that maybe Woohyun had been busy in the past days because of the kid he had adopted, and the younger would therefore remain as busy throughout from now on. Sunggyu had become so frustrated in the past days. How was he supposed to handle more of that?

“Why are you being like this Sunggyu?” Woohyun asked, trying to reason with him. “Do you not like kids?”

“It’s not about that.” Sunggyu sighed. “Where do I fit into this all Woohyun? Tell me? Am I supposed to be on the side-lines throughout and you would come to me when you are free? I don’t want that. I want to be with you all the time!”

“I won’t ignore you. Why do you think like that? A lot of people have children yet they are able to be with their partners.”

Sunggyu did not know how to explain it to Woohyun. Woohyun was the guardian of the girl. How was Sunggyu supposed to fit in there among them anywhere? “Don’t you think the child will be jealous of me?”

Woohyun looked confused.

“Kids are like that. They want attention of their parents only on them. If you start giving me some of your attention, the kid might become frustrated. They don’t want to share.”

“That doesn’t make sense hyung.” Woohyun said. “Why would she be jealous of you, when you’ll be her guardian too?”

“What…. Me?” What was Woohyun implying?

“Of course, if I am her guardian, you’ll be her guardian too right?” Woohyun said.

“How?” Sunggyu asked. He was feeling stupid for some reason, because Woohyun was looking at him as if Sunggyu was not getting something obvious.

“Of course you’ll be the guardian too. You are my-” Woohyun stopped suddenly, his face turning red.

Sunggyu was obliviously staring at the younger. He did not have any clue what was going on. Had he missed something?

The younger stepped forward, placing his hands on Sunggyu’s waist. His breath hit Sunggyu’s lips, and for some reason, the position they were in seemed really intimate to Sunggyu.

Woohyun placed his forehead touching Sunggyu’s, “You are my lover after all.” He said.

Sunggyu felt hot all of a sudden.

Woohyun withdrew soon, and went quite far away from Sunggyu.

Sunggyu would have called him back, had he not been calming his own heartbeat.

“You are my boyfriend, and I am yours.” Woohyun’s voice came from a distance, and Sunggyu looked at the younger.

Woohyun was facing away from him, and Sunggyu had a sudden urge to go hug him. They were boyfriends? Of course, it was not something shocking, but now Woohyun had proclaimed that Sunggyu was his boyfriend, and that meant a lot to Sunggyu.

Woohyun turned towards him suddenly, and walked to him.

The younger’s face was down, hiding his expression, but the tips of his ears were red.

When he was in front of him, Woohyun spoke, “Will you move in with me? That way I can be together with you too.”

Sunggyu’s whole body was tingling with excitement. Woohyun had asked him to move in with him? That was like a dream come true. Sunggyu had always imagined being able to wake up next to Woohyun daily, being there to bid him goodbye for work, and returning to spend the night by him. It would be like heaven. But… the kid would be there too…

“I am sorry, if it’s too soon, but hyung we won’t miss each other if you move in with me, since we would be staying together. I don’t want to be away from you too.” Woohyun said shyly.

Sunggyu was also so shy to reply. Internally, he wanted to smother Woohyun with love and wanted to move in already. But he couldn’t give in that easily. So he tried to make his heart function normally. But first, he gave a peck on Woohyun’s lips.

Woohyun bit his lower lip after that, and Sunggyu had to maintain self-control.

“I am fine with moving in.” Sunggyu said. “But I am not sure if the arrangement would work out. She wouldn’t like it. What if she wants me out?”

“Then I’ll tell her that I will go with you. She either wants the both of us, or none.” Woohyun replied confidently.

That touched Sunggyu’s heart. Woohyun seemed to really care for this kid, yet he wouldn’t choose her over Sunggyu, if Sunggyu were to go by his words.

“I don’t expect her to suddenly like you. She might not like it. But with time, things might fall into place.” Woohyun said.

“I am unsure about this Woohyun.” Sunggyu said honestly. “I don’t know if I would be able to care for her, and she must have grown attached to you already. I would be a newcomer. Plus, I never wanted to deal with anything else so quickly. I was planning to spend a few years with only you by my side. I don’t want to share you with anyone else.” Sunggyu pouted.

“So why were you putting the blame on her hyung? You are the one who doesn’t want to share me.” Woohyun chuckled. He looked free from burden since Sunggyu had agreed before about moving in. A beautiful smile was blooming on Woohyun’s face.

Sunggyu brought him to the mattress and pushed him down over it. “I don’t want to share you with anyone.” He said determinedly and smashed their lips together.

 

 

 

Dahyun was there to greet him, as soon as he reached home.

She was showing him a drawing she had made. Myungsoo had apparently taught her how to draw people, so she had drawn a photo of herself and Woohyun together. There were two figures on the top of a cloud, and Woohyun presumed it was Dahyun’s parents.

Woohyun had not asked her about her father, but he wanted her to first get adjusted to sharing her concerns with him, and then ask her about it. Asking everything all of a sudden might upset her.

Sungyeol was eyeing Woohyun curiously. “What is it?” Woohyun asked him.

“Why are you wearing Sunggyu hyung’s jacket?” Sungyeol asked.

“Because he gave it to me.” Woohyun noticed Dahyun seeming interested in the conversation.

“But why are you wearing it now? It’s not cold inside.” Sungyeol smirked at him.

Of course it was Sungyeol who would guess everything.

Woohyun had been wearing the jacket because his neck was full of hickeys, and the jacket had a high enough collar to cover those.

Sungyeol came closer to him to take off the jacket, and Woohyun was about to curse at him, but Dahyun was tugging at Sungyeol and asking him to let the jacket remain.

Both Woohyun and Sungyeol looked weirdly at her, but Woohyun was thankful Sungyeol had stopped, and he wasn’t going to let the topic be discussed further.

 

 

 

Now, to prepare Dahyun for the news.

His little angel was sitting on the chair which was too big for her, snuggled in one of Woohyun’s jackets.

Woohyun was still wearing Sunggyu’s jacket, because it was comfortable enough, and because the hickeys were still there.

Sunggyu had been serious about not wanting to share Woohyun with anyone, and had ended up marking Woohyun everywhere. That had ended up in a steamy make out session, which Woohyun had thoroughly enjoyed.

When Sunggyu would move in with Woohyun, they could spend time with each other daily like that, and it felt too good to come true. Which was why Woohyun was going to ensure that everything went perfect. He was not going to risk anyone getting hurt.

He approached Dahyun slowly. “Aren’t you sleepy? Let’s go to sleep.” He said, acting cutely.

Dahyun rubbed her eyes and opened her arms for Woohyun to pick her up.

Woohyun chuckled, and bringing her into his arms, he took her to his bed.

She would sleep there alone, and Woohyun would sleep on the couch in the corner of the room.

Dahyun would ask him to sleep with her, and Woohyun had agreed for the first few days, but had then told her that she had to learn to sleep on her own. She was old enough to do that, besides it would be good practice for her in case Sunggyu shifted in with them and they had to sleep separately.

But today, he had to talk to her, so he lied down beside her.

“Are you going to sing me a song?” She asked wide eyed.

“Do you want me to?” He asked. He had done that only twice before.

“Yes!” She said excitedly.

“Okay, but first oppa has something to talk about with you.”

Dahyun looked at him attentively.

“Dahyunnie, your oppa has someone he likes, and he wants that person to move in with us.”

She looked confused. “In this house?”

“No, we will move to a bigger house. You will get your own room too!” He said, acting excited.

“Okay.” She said. “Now song please oppa!”

What? That’s it? How come she had agreed so quickly? “Are you fine with that Dahyunnie? You will have another oppa then.”

“I don’t need anyone else. Woohyun oppa is too nice.” She said.

Woohyun’s heart became warm all of a sudden. “But you will have another nice oppa. Please give him a chance too Dahyunnie. Oppa wants you to like him too.” He requested.

“Does Woohyunie oppa love that person?” She asked.

Woohyun was taken by surprise. Trying to control his blush, he tried to think of a reply. “I like him.”

“So Dahyun will like him too.” She smiled, and Woohyun was so happy by her words, he gave her a tight hug. “I love you my baby.” He said.

“I love you too oppa.”

 

 

 

The nerves were eating him and he was about to throw up from the tension.

For the past one hour, Sunggyu had been trying to decide what clothes he should be wearing to Woohyun’s house, but he couldn’t settle with one choice. He liked the black suit he had. But it would look too formal, and the kid might think that Sunggyu was an old man.

On the other hand, the pair of yellow clothes he had was bright and cute, but she might be scared of him if he wore that.

In the end, when Woohyun’s knock came on the door, he had been dressed in one of his usual clothes, a simple grey t-shirt and black jeans. He had styled his hair a bit, so they looked proper, and had put on some beauty stuff on his face to look more presentable. The latter was something Sungjong and Myungsoo had helped him with.

Woohyun whistled at him, as he took in Sunggyu’s appearance, and Sunggyu shook him off.

Sunggyu would be sweating like crazy, yet Woohyun might find him attractive after all.

“Ready?” Woohyun asked, as Sunggyu locked the front door of his cabin.

“No.” Sunggyu replied.

Woohyun looked at him for an explanation, and Sunggyu pointed to his cheek.

“I deserve a kiss for this, doing all of this for you.”

“Ha! You are doing this for yourself! Didn’t you want me by your side too?” Woohyun challenged.

And Sunggyu pouted.

Right then he was pressed to the wall of the house, as Woohyun crashed his lips with his.

Sunggyu had just applied chapstick on and his lips would become swollen now, so he wanted to protest, but he did not make a single move of protest, as his body gave in to Woohyun willingly.

Woohyun pulled away, breathing heavily. “You might want to stop acting cute and sexy at the same time, or I might have to take you before we leave from here.”

That turned Sunggyu on so much, he could feel his member getting hard. They had not gone the full way even once after Sunggyu had returned to the village. And even though Sunggyu so badly wanted to have Woohyun spread under him as he filled the younger, Sunggyu would also be ready to be fucked by Woohyun anytime.

It rarely ever went that way, but Sunggyu appreciated Woohyun as the top too. It was like being a top was natural to Woohyun. Too bad, they almost always ended up with Sunggyu as the top. Besides being on the bottom was a little embarrassing for Sunggyu, as Woohyun would make him scream loudly, he was that good. And Sunggyu wanted to be in control.

However, now, giving up every bit of his control to the man in front of him did not seem like a bad idea. He pulled Woohyun flush against him, and whispered against the younger’s ear. “Do that then. I am ready.” He said, leaving a wet stripe over the shell of the ear.

Woohyun shivered as a result of that, and Sunggyu palmed his crotch. There was a gasp from Woohyun.

Why should Sunggyu be the only one with a hard on?

They did share a few touches here and there after that, but broke apart soon because it was evening already, and they had to reach Woohyun’s house soon.

Sunggyu noticed Woohyun was wearing a turtleneck, probably to cover the marks he had given him yesterday, and Sunggyu almost felt bad, almost.

Next time, he would mark his thighs. It won’t be a problem then.

 

 

 

Sunggyu wondered what the kid would be like. He was reminded of Dubu, and he wondered if she was doing well. The kidnapper had been caught that day, so she should be safe now, he thought. He would go to visit her one day when he was free. Heechul would know where she lived.

Woohyun had told Sunggyu that the girl who lived with him was named Dahyun.

And now as he entered Woohyun’s house, he looked around for Dahyun.

Woohyun called out her name, and the figure sitting on one of the chairs engrossed in a book, suddenly came running to them.

Dahyun looked a lot like Dubu. No… Dahyun was Dubu. What?

Sunggyu was surprised to see Dubu looking at him with a smile on her face. “Dubu?” He said, unsurely.

Woohyun laughed at that. “Oh you already have a nickname for her. That’s amazing hyung!”

“No… this… I know her Woohyun.” Sunggyu said.

Dubu… no Dahyun’s smile faltered a little. Sunggyu wondered if he should tell Woohyun about the incident near his cabin when Dahyun had lost her way, but she had asked him to not tell about it to her oppa, and that oppa was Woohyun most likely.

Sunggyu needed some time to process the information.

So Woohyun was Dahyun’s oppa. That seemed to fit perfectly well with everything. When they had first met, Dahyun had said she had followed her oppa’s usual path as her oppa came in that direction daily. And she hadn’t been wrong about the place like Sunggyu had assumed her to be then. Woohyun used to come there daily to meet Sunggyu after all.

Then Dahyun had been almost kidnapped as her oppa hadn’t been able to pick her up from school on time. That time… Woohyun had probably lost track of time when he had been with Sunggyu, which was why he had been urgently wanting to leave.

It all made sense now.

But how was Sunggyu supposed to explain everything to Woohyun? He couldn’t lie, he did not want to lie.

“I have a lot to tell you Woohyun.” Sunggyu said finally.

Dahyun looked scared, so Sunggyu went to her. “Don’t be worried okay?” He patted her shoulder. “I will make sure Woohyun doesn’t scold you.” He whispered to her.

She nodded at that, and Sunggyu was suddenly really happy, as he realized he would be _Dubu’s_ guardian. Sunggyu was actually very fond of her, and he wouldn’t mind having her around one bit. This was such a pleasant surprise, Sunggyu gave her a happy hug, and she returned it.

When he stood back up to face Woohyun, the younger was looking at the scene curiously. “Am I missing something?”

And Sunggyu began right from the start.

Woohyun did not interrupt him even once, and waited for him to finish speaking.

“I can’t believe this.” He said when Sunggyu was done.

“Me neither Hyun.” Sunggyu said.

Woohyun looked at Dahyun accusingly. “Why did you not tell me about all of this before? About the dogs too?”

Sunggyu could see that Dahyun was nervous, but she spoke, “I did tell you” meekly.

Woohyun pouted, and Sunggyu wanted to kiss the pout away. “You did not tell me it was dangerous!”

Sunggyu placed a hand on Woohyun’s shoulder. “She was probably already worried about you scolding her for coming back late that day, so she couldn’t tell you.”

Woohyun tried to calm down and Sunggyu massaged his shoulders to aid that. The younger finally looked at Sunggyu, with a sad smile on his face. “You are a better father than I am Sunggyu.” He jabbed his hand at Sunggyu’s chest lightly, and then proceeded to lean on his chest. “Thank you for saving her. I am so glad you were there with her both times.”

Sunggyu was concerned about how Dubu would act seeing the two of them together, but she had no expression of surprise on her face. In fact, she looked… understanding. “You saved her the first time Woohyun” Sunggyu reminded him.

“That’s true but…” Woohyun seemed to have remembered that Dahyun was watching them, so he pulled away from Sunggyu. “Thank you.” He said to Sunggyu.

He did not deserve it, Sunggyu thought, but also the smile Woohyun gave him was one of the prettiest Sunggyu had ever witnessed and Sunggyu was glad to have done something right for once.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for your comments! i had been thinking no one was reading this here since there was no way to know if ppl were reading and i thought if no one was reading, it’s better to not clutter up the new stories section, anyway thanks for reading and this is a really short update sorry i had no time :(


	13. 12. want

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promise this will make you be like wtf at least once lol, what have I written ^^; warning: badly written explicit sexual content ahead, skip whenever you want to
> 
> also thanks to @woogyuly for the love <3

 

 

 

Stepping inside would stop what was going on, so Woohyun stood at the door, silently watching.

Sunggyu was sitting up on the bed, waiting for Woohyun to return, his eyes closed from sleepiness. The older checked on Dahyun once, who was sleeping next to him, and once he was assured she was sleeping peacefully, he closed his eyes again.

The sight was too cute, because Sunggyu and Dahyun were both in light coloured floral night clothes, and looked incredibly cuddly lying beside each other.

And Woohyun was so happy to have his precious people so close to him. Now if he just had his family and friends come here too, it would be too amazing. Maybe they could hold a party and invite everyone?

After trying to remember the scene well, and so that Sunggyu wouldn’t have to lose more of his sleep, Woohyun stepped inside the room, and joined them on the bed.

When the older noticed his presence, he opened his eyes slightly. “Done?” He asked.

Woohyun gave him a smile, “Yes. Let’s sleep now.” He said, switching off the lights after Sunggyu lied down.

 

 

 

The house they had moved into was not much bigger than Woohyun’s last house, but it had two bedrooms and was in a slightly less populated area.

Woohyun’s main concern about shifting to a new house had been that it should be closer to the school so that Dahyun could reach there easily, and that it should not be in a densely populated area, since that would assure more privacy.

But those two were quite contradictory to each other, since all places close to the school were heavily populated.

Finally, after two days of searching, they had found an unoccupied house to live which satisfied Woohyun’s criteria. The only problem was that it was right at the edge of a forest, and hence they had to also build a tall fence around the house, so that creatures from the forest wouldn’t enter their compound. There weren’t any dangerous creatures in there, but if a herd of animals suddenly ventured into the area, it could turn harmful soon.

They had only finished settling in by yesterday night. Woohyun and Sunggyu had done most of the work. Their friends had come occasionally whenever they had been free, to help. Dahyun had also wanted to help, and the two had let her do that, but she had soon become exhausted and fallen asleep by evening.

So they had tucked her to sleep and woken her up only for dinner.

The three had slept together in the same bed for the night. Dahyun had been with them too, since it was their first night together.

Sunggyu had seemed a bit anxious, but Dahyun had given him a goodnight kiss and fallen asleep soon. There hadn’t been much to worry about at all, and Woohyun was really pleased with the turn of events.

They had bought the new house by returning Woohyun’s old one to the village, and putting in some extra funds, using both of their savings.

Sunggyu had insisted on paying the whole of it, since more than half of the purchase price of the new house had been covered through the sale of Woohyun’s old house, but they were both short on cash, Woohyun knew. It had been a while since they had stopped working, and though it was not like they had no money at all (they had both saved enough), but currently there was no source of income through either of them.

They had had to buy new stuff for Dahyun too. So there was only outflow of money, and no inflow. That made Woohyun realize that he should be getting a job in the coming days, but who would look after Dahyun then? He would have to have a talk with Sunggyu regarding the matter.

As Woohyun exited from the small kitchen with the dishes, both Sunggyu and Dahyun were waiting for food. They were sharing responsibilities and so Sunggyu was to cook the lunch while Woohyun would cook breakfast.

Woohyun eyed the two anxiously as they dug into the food. It was such a domestic setting that it warmed Woohyun’s heart, and at the same time it made him nervous, because it was the first time things were going all right.

He realized he had not touched the food at all, when the other two were looking at him curiously.

The sudden attention on him, made him drop the spoon on the table, and the two brought their chairs closer to him hurriedly on either side of him.

“Woohyun ah, are you okay?” Sunggyu asked concerned, whereas Dahyun checked his forehead for fever.

“I am f-fine.” Woohyun managed to reply.

Sunggyu scooped up some food into the spoon, and placed it in front of Woohyun’s mouth. “Here ahh” He indicated him to open his mouth.

Woohyun felt embarrassed being treated like a kid in front of a kid, but it also made him happy. He shyly opened his mouth and accepted it. Dahyun was next in the line, imitating Sunggyu’s actions with a touch of aegyo, and Woohyun melted at that. He accepted food from her too, and played with her cheeks.

She giggled, and Woohyun’s mood soared up really high. He turned to Sunggyu to share the happiness with him, and noticed an expression of bliss on his boyfriend’s face.

When the older noticed Woohyun looking at him though, a pout formed on his face.

“Give me some attention too.” He whined, and Woohyun found it really adorable.

So he pinched Sunggyu’s cheeks too, but with more force, and the pout on Sunggyu’s face turned deeper. Woohyun wanted to squish him in a hug, and never let him go, but he couldn’t go overboard in front of Dahyun, so he tried to calm himself down till Dahyun left for school.

 

 

 

Oh he was so jealous. Envy filled his whole self as he looked at Sunggyu helping Dahyun put on her tie.

They looked really cute, like a real father and daughter. Sunggyu was only twenty years older than her, though he did not look as old. But the way he treated her really made them look like a family.

And Woohyun was content with that.

But he was jealous too, as Dahyun had ran to Sunggyu to ask him for help with her homework. She had again ran to him to help her get ready, and Sunggyu also gladly helped her. On top of that, Sunggyu was being too cute while doing that, with the huge smile on his face, as he ignored Woohyun completely for the one hour after breakfast.

And Woohyun felt left out, watching all of that from a distance.

They were probably like that because they had met after a long time, Sunggyu had told him they hadn’t met after the kidnapping incident. Yet, Woohyun was grumpy. And the funniest thing was that he was jealous of both. He wanted to be with them too there…

And he knew how unreasonable he was being, and wanted to laugh at himself, because the two had fed him his whole breakfast portion, all their attention on him then. Yet he already wanted their attention again.

Dahyun ran towards him soon though, since it was Woohyun who dropped her to school daily, so she made him happy again.

 

 

 

The moment Woohyun stepped into the house after taking off his shoes, he was being pulled into their bedroom.

Sunggyu pulled him to sit on the bed, and soon Woohyun was sitting, leaning on Sunggyu’s chest, as Sunggyu’s limbs surrounded him from behind.

It was like a koala was clinging to him, and a chuckle came to him at the thought.

“What are you thinking?” Sunggyu’s voice came from next to his ear.

His warm breathing falling on Woohyun’s skin, was making Woohyun slightly crazy, but he was coherent enough to reply. “You are too soft.” He said.

“No, you are the softest and cutest person.” Sunggyu said, hugging Woohyun tighter.

It felt so nice to be with Sunggyu like this, that Woohyun wanted this to be their routine every day.

However, soon Sunggyu made him lie down on the bed, and began kissing him all over.

Thereafter, the older took off Woohyun’s shirt, and bent down to take in Woohyun’s nipples in his mouth.

Woohyun had been expecting some action in the morning, but now he felt unprepared, because he had missed Sunggyu so much, there was a lot of pent up frustration inside him as a result of that, and he wanted to feel everything of Sunggyu.

But it was the older doing things to him, and that was even more overwhelming because Sunggyu never failed to make him feel good, and he was already aroused from all the sucking and biting Sunggyu was doing to his poor nipples.

So he pulled the older down by his hips, and reached up to grind himself against Sunggyu, and the sound that left Sunggyu’s throat made him harder.

Sunggyu was growing there too, and Woohyun had the sudden urge to pleasure Sunggyu.

It was hard to push Sunggyu away, because Woohyun was being practically humped, and Sunggyu looked betrayed at him at being pushed away suddenly. It was understandable. Woohyun was also at a loss about why he had done that.

But then he remembered.

He was soon kneeling on the floor, between Sunggyu’s spread legs as Sunggyu sat at the edge of the bed.

Woohyun placed his head on Sunggyu’s lap and turned his head sideways, so he was stroking his cheek against Sunggyu’s clothed member.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Sunggyu asked breathless.

Woohyun did not answer and continued with his thing. He was embarrassed, but he did not want to stop.

Sunggyu’s crotch was right under him, he was rubbing his face against it after all, and Woohyun could feel how hard the older was.

When he felt the older hold his arm to make him stand up, Woohyun removed his hand from over him and broke away to look up at Sunggyu.

The older was blushing wild, biting his lips, his hand clutching his thigh hard, as he stared into Woohyun’s soul.

And Woohyun remembered how neglected he felt in the morning. And now that Sunggyu was fully looking only at him, and with _that_ look on his face, it was difficult to control himself, and Woohyun crashed their lips together.

He was soon lying on top of Sunggyu, making his way into Sunggyu’s mouth with his tongue, as one of his hands ventured southwards inside Sunggyu’s pants, and found his member.

The older let out a moan as Woohyun grabbed hold of his cock, and began stroking it.

He parted his mouth from Sunggyu and moved to marking his neck with his bites, so that Sunggyu’s moans could be heard.

Though the older was trying to control his voice, and was only breathing heavily.

Woohyun decided to finish him off quick, because he had a lot of stuff to do, and he wanted to try everything.

 

 

 

Soon, the older was under him, as Woohyun entered him for the second time. His hole was already slick and wet, and Woohyun was thrusting at a faster pace than before.

The first time had been slow lovemaking, now it was simply rough sex.

Oh how much Woohyun had missed him.

Sunggyu looked so beautiful beneath him, all open for him, greedily taking him in all. Sunggyu’s walls were clenching around him, and Woohyun could not hold back his moans too.

He had his gaze at the older for most of the time, taking in his pretty features, his reactions to Woohyun’s touches, how his whole body shone with the sweat from the passionate meeting of their bodies.

His expression twisted into one of bliss as Woohyun slammed into his prostate, and soon Sunggyu was coming over his stomach.

Woohyun pumped his cock to let him ride the orgasm out. He was still inside him, though he came soon with one look from Sunggyu in his direction.

He was sure Sunggyu would scold him for making him leak with cum, but he made him forget about that by going down on Sunggyu’s member, enveloping his mouth around it.

The older was moaning random nonsense.

Woohyun could make out a few words like ‘stop’ and ‘wait’, but at the same time, Sunggyu was also pulling him down by his hair, encouraging him to continue.

Woohyun could feel how sensitive he was and used that to make him scream.

He did not stop until he had sucked him dry.

 

 

 

The cold air hit him as Woohyun separated from him to get cleaned up.

Sunggyu realized how sticky he was. More than half of his body was covered in cum, and it made him feel so dirty.

Woohyun returned soon with tissue papers, and began cleaning him.

Sunggyu closed his eyes, because he was feeling really embarrassed, and… the audacity of Woohyun!

The younger was fingering him, and Sunggyu squirmed at the feeling of his fingers in his hole, removing the sticky substance.

His gaze fell onto the younger, and Woohyun was staring straight at him.

It flustered him too much, and he turned his face to the side.

But soon, a hand on his chin made him look back to the front, and his favourite lips were over his.

Sunggyu remembered the places Woohyun’s mouth had been minutes ago, the memory making him all hot. But he only pulled him closer, and let Woohyun do whatever he wanted to with him.

 

 

 

In the afternoon, they went to meet Woohyun’s family along with Dahyun.

It was a nice get-together. Sunggyu had had a small fear of being scolded by them. He must have disappointed them so much with all what happened, but they had neither judged him nor given him nasty stares.

In fact, he had missed them too, and now, finally it was like they were back to the life they lived earlier.

Except Sunggyu and Woohyun loved each other openly now and they also had a precious someone they cared for.

Sunggyu was still a bit unsure about how Dahyun would make place in their lives, though he had been careful not to show his worries about that in front of anyone.

But since it was her, and because he was already so fond of her, those doubts rested in the back of his mind. Besides, he had found himself caring more for her.

He looked at her playing with Boohyun and Mijoo, and realized that they looked like a perfect family.

If something happened to Sunggyu, and if Woohyun was unable to take care of her on his own, then the two could look after her. She would fit in well with them.

Sunggyu did not know why such depressing thoughts had attacked him out of nowhere, but he started feeling lonely all of a sudden for some reason. He was reminded of the time he had spent alone and sad when he had been away from his village. His mom had been there with him, but that hadn’t helped him.

Woohyun was with his parents, and Sunggyu was alone in their garden, looking at the new plants which were being grown.

It was like that for ten minutes with Sunggyu lost in his thoughts, but then Woohyun was soon by his side, holding his hand. “Shall we go inside?” He asked.

Sunggyu nodded, and followed him, but before they could go inside, he was pulled behind the shed next to the house.

“Whh…what?” Sunggyu looked at the younger, confused.

Woohyun had him pinned to the wall of the shed, and had his gaze focused on him. “Hyung are you alright?”

Sunggyu wondered if Woohyun had read his thoughts somehow, that seemed impossible, but otherwise how had Woohyun known Sunggyu was having negative thoughts? He was about to answer he was fine, but then Woohyun turned him around suddenly, and Sunggyu was pulled back, his back against Woohyun’s chest.

What was going on?

Woohyun had his arm around him, holding him flush against his body, as he sighed into Sunggyu’s shoulder.

“Is it still paining?” Woohyun asked, as he shamelessly grinded his crotch against Sunggyu’s ass.

Sunggyu was unable to answer, as he was sure he would be babbling nonsense.

He was worried about the prospect of getting caught. Someone might come back there looking for them. What would they answer to them?

But at the same time it was thrilling, because Woohyun was shamelessly lusting after him, and it made Sunggyu feel wanted.

Even though he felt lonely often, Woohyun never failed to remind him that he was loved. This was something more basic and not really showing love, yet it boosted Sunggyu’s self-confidence.

There was a tent in his pants too, and Sunggyu was concerned about how they were going to relieve themselves, but Woohyun kept on going with his actions. It was like he desired Sunggyu so much, he couldn’t keep his hands off from him.

And this was _after_ they had had their steamy session in the afternoon. It said so much about how attracted they were to each other. At least that’s what Sunggyu believed, because even after all that in the afternoon, his body was still reacting to Woohyun’s touches sensitively, and he only wanted more of it.

However, the younger pulled away soon as someone called out for them.

Sunggyu turned around to look at Woohyun, and the younger was trying to will his erection away.

Sunggyu wanted to laugh at him for getting to this situation when Woohyun had to have known it would have to end up like this, but he wasn’t in a better state himself, and they both laughed at each other.

 

 

 

Weren’t they lucky?

Dahyun had ended up staying at Boohyun and Mijoo’s house for the night, because she wanted to play with them for longer.

Of course Sunggyu had felt a pang in his heart, at having to separate from her, he realized maybe he did care for her more than he believed.

But that also meant he had Woohyun to himself for the entire night, and that was good. But that was bad for his ass, as Woohyun was looking at him with hungry eyes, as Sunggyu pulled off his shirt to change once they were back home.

And Sunggyu was not going to survive another session of being fucked.

He was thinking of ways to reject Woohyun without making him feel disappointed.

The younger would understand if he explained, Woohyun was really understanding like that, but how was Sunggyu to say it?

When they started preparing the dinner together, Sunggyu had to bend down to get some ingredients from the lower rack, and suddenly there were a pair of hands on his backside just feeling him out of nowhere. Sunggyu had squeaked and Woohyun had whistled his way to the stove.

But it did not stop at that.

The younger groped him as they passed each other while cooking, grabbing his backside whenever there was a chance.

Sunggyu wanted to flip him off, but the only reaction that came out of him was a blush, and a glare which was not effective, because he was red from how his own body wanted those hands to grab him properly and not just tease him and go. The thoughts made him more embarrassed.

Dinner had been a peaceful affair, with Woohyun offering to feed him again, and they both had ended up feeding each other.

Sunggyu had found himself falling more in love as Woohyun was being so caring to him, and in turn, he was also naturally being really sappy to the younger, giving him kisses out of nowhere, and wiping his mouth with a tissue.

Sunggyu liked pampering Woohyun and he loved getting the same attention from him.

As they were done with eating, and cleaning the table however, Sunggyu found himself face first on the table.

Woohyun had made him bend down over the table, and was leaning over him from behind.

The heat radiating off from the younger’s body on top of him, pressed against him, made Sunggyu wriggle, but the movement pressed their bodies closer, and Sunggyu let out an embarrassing sound.

Woohyun was totally on top of him, his teeth scraping over Sunggyu’s earlobe, sucking it. “Is it fine like this?” He asked, and how was Sunggyu supposed to answer that?

He felt warm of a sudden because Woohyun was holding him really gently despite the position they were in, taking care not to hurt him. And he was also asking Sunggyu if he was alright with whatever he was doing.

Sunggyu would have given him anything he wanted, Woohyun only needed to ask. But how was he supposed to reply to the question without revealing how affected he was by Woohyun’s actions?

“Woohyun” He spoke up, and he was sure it came out as a moan, so he only further said, “Yes” to show his approval.

The younger began rocking their bodies together at that, and though the position was a little uncomfortable, Sunggyu was hard in a matter of seconds.

He was also too embarrassed, and as Woohyun grabbed a handful of his ass cheeks and squeezed them, it tingled a little from soreness, but it also made Sunggyu feel totally submissive, which was out of character for him.

He covered his face with his hands since he was all red from being flustered, even though it was not like Woohyun could see his face.

However, the movements stopped completely after that, and he was gently brought up.

His hands were taken away from his face, and there was a concerned Woohyun staring at him.

“Gyu are you hurt? Does it hurt? You should have told me.” His eyes screamed worry. He made Sunggyu sit on the couch nearby, and Sunggyu was having a hard time looking at his face.

“No” Sunggyu managed to say, and promptly covered his face with his hands again, to avoid the direct gaze.

Woohyun tried to remove his hands. “Baby, please tell me? Did I slam your face against the table?”

Sunggyu wanted to laugh at that.

“Did you get hurt anywhere?” Woohyun seemed to be genuinely concerned, his voice gave that out, and Sunggyu felt himself tearing up suddenly.

The last thing he should be doing now is crying because that would give the younger more stress, yet he couldn’t control the tears falling from his face, as it struck him that they were finally together.

He was with his Woohyun, living with him.

That had seemed impossible for so long, that Sunggyu had never imagined that he would ever get the chance to experience true love.

Yet here his true love was with him, and reciprocating his love. And there were no misunderstandings between them anymore. They had their whole lives ahead of them to spend in the other’s company, try out things between them and understand each other and love each other more. It was truly surreal and made him optimistic.

For once, things were all happy.

Woohyun must have noticed his tears. “Sunggyu” He said frantically, and once Sunggyu took away his hands and wiped his face free from the tears of happiness and exciting realization, Woohyun seemed to have misunderstood the situation.

“I am sorry.” Woohyun said, his voice breaking. “Was I too overbearing?” His hands were on Sunggyu’s body checking if he was alright, and Sunggyu couldn’t have loved him more. “Did I do anything wrong?” Woohyun asked.

“Yes.” Sunggyu replied. He stood up and taking Woohyun’s hand in his, he brought the younger to the bedroom. “You have already taken your chance.” He said, straddling Woohyun, who was lying on the bed. “Now it’s my turn to love you, and let me do that.” He murmured against his lips.

He waited for Woohyun to respond. The crease on Woohyun’s forehead flattened to turn into a blush on his cheeks. He accepted Sunggyu’s proposal, by touching their lips fully.

Sunggyu took his time in relearning Woohyun’s sensitive spots.

The younger was too complaint under him, letting Sunggyu lead the way.

There was nothing Sunggyu wanted to miss. The night was young, and they had just started.

He started with undressing them both completely, that would mean no more obstructions.

But that also meant their dicks were dangling in the open, which led to accidental touches, and abrupt loud moans.

That had been a blessing though, since Woohyun was getting too impatient as Sunggyu took his time in mapping out Woohyun’s body.

A wave of understanding dawned over Sunggyu as he remembered how possessive Woohyun had been with him once. Woohyun had told him that Sunggyu belonged to him, and had been showing his envy towards whoever had got to be with Sunggyu. Now Sunggyu felt the same possessiveness swell inside him.

Woohyun lying under him like that, his eyes hooded with desire for Sunggyu, as Sunggyu dug into and gave love to every contour, every place on Woohyun- that image was not meant for anyone but Sunggyu to see.

Sunggyu moved down to bite Woohyun’s jaw and mark him.

“Gyu” Woohyun mumbled. “Please”

“What?” Sunggyu asked, as he continued nipping down to Woohyun’s neck.

“Do something. I can’t wait.” Woohyun whined. “At least let me suck you off if not anything else. I want you.”

That was enough to make Sunggyu stop his actions. “I will be doing that to you. This is my turn to have you.” Sunggyu said, as if that was final.

Woohyun however persisted. “But you are too slow.”

“Uh huh” Sunggyu said, returning to sucking Woohyun’s jaw.

“Okay then” Woohyun breathed out. “Let’s do both. Let me blow you while you take your time with me.”

The younger was driving him over the edge. Sunggyu was confused for a moment about what Woohyun said, but soon realized. He gave Woohyun one long kiss, full of tongue and teeth, and changed his position after, so that he was lying on top of Woohyun still, but with his mouth hovering over the younger’s hard member, while his own member was touching Woohyun’s plump lips.

“Fuck Woohyun” Sunggyu hissed when Woohyun pulled his hips down to take in his cock slowly into his mouth. “Aah…” Sunggyu moaned, as the younger licked around the tip, and his hands stroked the base. He said something that sounded like ‘thank you’ and that reverberated around Sunggyu’s member, making him see the stars already.

Sunggyu couldn’t come so fast though, so he leaned down and concentrated on the straining member in front of him. He licked his lips, and mouthed his favourite treat.

He wasn’t even sure what was going on anymore, just that they were both out of their minds, each trying to make the other cum. Sunggyu was trying to hold back so that he could pleasure the younger well, but he was soon going to release.

So he picked up his pace, stroking Woohyun’s sac with his hands, as his tongue sucked on Woohyun like a lollipop.

Woohyun gave a warning when he was about to come and Sunggyu pulled away because otherwise it would be all messy.

Once Woohyun was done shooting, Sunggyu licked up whatever had landed on the younger’s thighs, smacking his mouth.

Slowly he removed himself from Woohyun, and straddled over his chest, facing him, planning to jerk himself off to release.

But Woohyun beckoned him to come closer.

And that was how Sunggyu ended up thrusting down himself into Woohyun’s mouth as Woohyun surprisingly took him in fully, swallowing everything when Sunggyu released.

“Ah that was amazing” Woohyun said, licking his lips as Sunggyu stared at him. Sunggyu would have been shocked at how casual Woohyun was being after all that, but it was apparent from the younger’s body language how shy he was feeling. His gaze did not stay in Sunggyu’s direction, but was avoiding his eyes.

“Are you satisfied?” Sunggyu asked.

Woohyun placed his hands on Sunggyu’s thighs, rubbing it. “Yeah”

“Too bad, I am not. Get on your fours.” Sunggyu got up from over Woohyun, giving him space to get into position.

Woohyun’s voice cracked as he was surprised by the sudden order, and his emotions showed clearly on his face. He was about as embarrassed as he had made Sunggyu feel throughout the day, which was too much. “Wh-what?”

“I am waiting.” Sunggyu said, as his fingers circled the inner side of Woohyun’s thigh.

The younger didn’t move, looking at Sunggyu’s hand over his thigh, biting his lips.

“Or do you want to stop?” Sunggyu asked.

“No.” Woohyun placed his hand over Sunggyu’s and pulled himself up. Taking Sunggyu’s hand in his, he took his fingers in his mouth, sucking on it, as his eyes were focused on Sunggyu. After removing the fingers, he said, “I love you.”

Was Nam Woohyun for real? Why was he suddenly attacking Sunggyu like that? Sunggyu was jolted out of his mood, and now he only wanted to do one thing.

As Woohyun turned to get into position, Sunggyu pulled him, kissing him fully on the lips.

The younger seemed to be surprised for a few seconds, but then he was kissing back with equal vigour.

Making Woohyun lie down, Sunggyu hovered over him, and kissed his forehead. “I will make love to you tonight. We can do other things later.”

Woohyun opened his mouth to seemingly protest, “No, it’s fine I-”

“I want to do this. I want to love you Woohyun.” Sunggyu tried to convince him.

 

 

 

This was so much better.

It was really so much better compared to before.

Before, they would only be able to hold each other when they wanted to.

Now Sunggyu could do whatever he wanted- be it abruptly kissing Woohyun because he looked so damn adorable as he smiled while coming down from his high, or be it shutting Woohyun’s mouth with a kiss so he could stop screaming so loud that the whole village would hear them.

That was literally what Woohyun had been doing. He had been chanting Sunggyu’s name as a mantra when Sunggyu took him teasingly and slowly. And when he had brushed his prostrate while at the same time whispering dirty words to his ear, Woohyun moaned loudly.

It was like he had let loose of his entire self under Sunggyu.

Sunggyu had also not withheld himself, he had taken everything he could, and when Woohyun had pulled him to bring him over his chest, as they both were waiting to calm down, he had felt like he was in heaven.

Sunggyu was lying with Woohyun and he could hope that the younger would be there tomorrow, even the day after _and_ the day after that. Woohyun would be there with him for a long time, and that assurance was something that helped him sleep well in the night.

They would have to wake up early tomorrow, so they went to sleep right after that.

And Sunggyu was glad to have found that Woohyun was sleeping well too, maybe this was the start of a new and beautiful chapter in their lives.

 

 

 

It had taken them time to get into a routine, but now, after one week of living together, they were accustomed to it.

Woohyun would wake up and prepare breakfast for the family. Sunggyu would help Dahyun with her homework when she asked for help or teach her new things. Then Woohyun would drop her to school. After that, Sunggyu and Woohyun would go on a trip to the forests in the village or visit the hills. They would also sometimes go to meet their friends and family, or simply rest in their house.

Then Sunggyu would pick up Dahyun, and prepare lunch for them. The afternoon and evening times were reserved for family picnics or resting at home, talking with each other. And the three would prepare dinner together after that.

It had been a perfect schedule, except Woohyun was concerned about getting a job. He wasn’t sure how to bring it up with Sunggyu, but he had been thinking to join as a music teacher in Dahyun’s school.

He wasn’t yet sure of it, but that was what he had arrived at as the safest choice after considering all factors.

Last week, there had been a letter addressed to him from the guard force, requesting his help for a special case. They had asked him to return as a guard. And he had rejected their offer.

Though being a guard had been one of his dreams since childhood, and he was proud that his friends were still a part of the sixteenth guard team and that Sungjong was doing well as the head guard. But now, Woohyun was quite averse to the guard job.

It was something that suited him well, since he had developed the perfect aptitude and skills for it over the years. Yet his days in the job, only reminded him of painful memories. And if that brought him down while doing his work, he did not deserve to be a guard.

He was quite sure Sunggyu had a wish to return to the guard job. And Woohyun had no issue with that. But would Sunggyu join if Woohyun did not join?

That made him hesitate to talk about the issue, because if he brought forward the topic, he would have to say he did not want to become a guard anymore, and the reason for that may hurt Sunggyu.

But they needed to talk about it urgently, so Woohyun brought it up, when the two had just lied down to sleep one day.

“I want to talk about getting a job.” He said.

“About that, I have something to ask you Woohyun.” Sunggyu said.

Woohyun turned to him, as the older did the same. “What is it?”

“I received a letter yesterday from the guard force and they were asking me to join them for a mission.” Sunggyu admitted.

So Sunggyu received the letter too.

“I was ready to go, I have been thinking to join the team again. But it was mentioned in the letter that they contacted you first, and you rejected them?”

Woohyun tried hard not to be affected by Sunggyu’s judgemental gaze.

“You said no? Why?”

“Because I don’t want to.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to go, and that’s final.” Woohyun turned on his back, and closed his eyes to go to sleep.

“But it says the mission is very dangerous and it would be better for two people to go together. The only two people they can send are us. And I can go alone, they said, without you, but that would be a risk to my life.”

It was like the world was conspiring against Woohyun’s decision. “So don’t go.” Woohyun said.

“But I have to go.” Sunggyu replied seriously.

“Why? They can surely send someone else? Why do you need to go?” Woohyun was not going to let Sunggyu leave for the mission if it was risky.

“They can’t and there’s a reason, and I can’t even reject them. The mission is related to…”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did this chapter make sense lol


	14. 13. desert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short again *hides*

 

 

 

“Why? They can surely send someone else? Why do you need to go?” Woohyun was not going to let Sunggyu leave for the mission if it was risky.

“They can’t and there’s a reason, and I can’t even reject them. The mission is related to…”

Sunggyu looked away all of a sudden, as if he had something to hide.

“Forget about that now. Let’s talk about it tomorrow.” The older lied down on the bed.

Now Woohyun was curious. He waited for a few seconds to check if Sunggyu would speak up, but the older did not, and curiosity got the best of Woohyun. “What is this case about? He turned towards Sunggyu.

A sigh left Sunggyu, as he turned to the other side, away from Woohyun, showing his back to him. “Sleep now.” He said into the air. “I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

Woohyun was not impressed by this. Putting a hand over Sunggyu’s arm, he made the older turn back towards him. “Hyung I won’t let you sleep if you don’t tell me now.”

“Okay” Sunggyu said, unbothered, closing his eyes.

Woohyun tried for a while, shaking the older, and trying to wake him up, but the older only glared at him.

Finally Woohyun gave up, and sat up to get down from the bed. He walked to the door of their bedroom, and walked out to the living room, but before he could get out of the main door, there was a hand holding his arm.

“What are you doing Woohyun?” Sunggyu said, lowly from behind, probably not to wake Dahyun. Her bedroom was adjacent to theirs, and though she might not be able to hear their voices now coming from the living room, if they spoke any louder she could wake up.

Woohyun tried to get out of Sunggyu’s grip, managing to unlock the front door, but Sunggyu locked it again, and pulled Woohyun back to the room.

Woohyun was fuming at Sunggyu, but if he were to stop the older suddenly while he was being taken away, it could hurt either of them, so he did not stop Sunggyu from doing that.

Once inside, Sunggyu locked the bedroom door, and made Woohyun sit on the bed, cornering him to the headboard. “What were you doing?”

His eyes showed rage, and Woohyun was disappointed at his own self, because it turned him on.

But he had to take his stand and not fall to the charm of his lover now.

“You could see what I was doing clearly. I was going outside.”

“Why?” Sunggyu asked, confused.

“Because you aren’t replying to my question.” Woohyun gritted his teeth in annoyance.

“So you will just get up and leave if I refuse to answer something? Is that what you will do?”

Sunggyu’s hands were holding Woohyun’s wrists to his side tightly, and though Woohyun was pretty sure Sunggyu had not realized how it was hurting Woohyun, it was not like Woohyun couldn’t bear that level of pain. He looked back at the older fiercely. “Yes.”

“Is that so?” Sunggyu’s face was right in front of his, and his breaths were falling over Woohyun’s face, but Woohyun was stuck at defying.

“I will do whatever I want to.” Woohyun wriggled his hands to free his wrists. “Let me go, you are hurting me.”

The older seemed to have realized that, because he suddenly let go of Woohyun’s hands. He sat back, away from Woohyun, looking down. “I am sorry.” He apologized.

Woohyun would have told him it was alright, but he was still angry Sunggyu was hiding things from him. “What will you get from hiding things from me?”

“The matter is not suitable to talk about before going to sleep. You might not be able to sleep then Woohyun.” Sunggyu said, his gaze still down.

Woohyun wanted to hug him because Sunggyu was only concerned about him, and did not want to harm his sleep, but Woohyun wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway if Sunggyu did not tell him what the case was about. He would stay up thinking about it. “Please tell me.” He requested. “If it’s that bad and I can’t sleep, you will still be here by my side right? And that’s enough to make me calm down.” He tried to convince him.

The words seemed to have reached Sunggyu, because he spoke up, “You know that person who tried to kidnap our Dubu? He’s a part of a gang. There are few more people in his gang, and they are going to target Gwangju again.”

What? That meant Dahyun would be in danger, and so would the other kids. The thought was terrifying, and Woohyun wanted to do anything he could to prevent the gang from entering the village. “How do you know about this?” He asked.

“The guards told me. They want the two of us to go to their base and end them off. The gang’s been a menace to a lot of people. Even people from the Daegu settlement shared information about them with us, so our village could do something to stop them.” Sunggyu looked nervous, and Woohyun could understand, it was a dangerous mission. They were not dealing with mindless zombies, but evil minded humans.

But something was making Woohyun feel chilled to his bone. He voiced it out. “What do they do with the kids, hyung?”

Sunggyu paled. “As per the information provided to us, most of them are used for ransom money, the rest are made to do dangerous work, and killed off when they are unable to work.”

Woohyun almost retched at the thought of the kids being overworked to death. The idea he had had in his mind had been crazier, but the reality was also equally cruel.

Sunggyu had an expression of horror on his face, and Woohyun went to him to give him a hug. “Is there anything more?” Woohyun asked concerned.

“No. We don’t really know anything else except for the location, but that hasn’t stopped me from thinking about some horrible scenarios. And also, there are around nine kids with the gang currently from Daegu, as per Daegu’s missing records, and I can’t imagine how those kids must be living there.” Sunggyu’s expression made Woohyun worried.

The older must have been thinking about it since yesterday all alone. It must have pained him a lot to feel powerless to do anything. Woohyun felt equally horrible too, but the news hadn’t yet sunk in for him. And looking at Sunggyu’s state currently, he felt bad for making Sunggyu forcibly talk about it.

Sunggyu came forward, resting his head on Woohyun’s shoulder. “Maybe I need you for me to stay calm more than you need me.” Sunggyu let out a sad laugh, as his hands ran over Woohyun’s back seeking comfort in Woohyun’s body.

Sunggyu’s scent had a calming effect on Woohyun, and he no longer felt unhappy.

“We… I… am going Woohyun.” Sunggyu declared.

Woohyun knew there was no stopping the older, and it was not like he wanted to stop him too. Sooner or later, they would have to take care of the menace, and it was better to attack the gang when they were unprepared than fight them off when they would come prepared with arms.

“I am sorry.” Sunggyu said.

“Why is it only the two of us they want to send?” Woohyun asked. “Is it because we are not a part of the guard team anymore and we are expendable? Or is it because of Dahyun?” He was confused about it, because he knew, as much as the guard force wanted them back and were upset about the two quitting their guard team, most of the guards cared for them. They wouldn’t make them guinea pigs just like that against an organized gang. And it was not like they were the only experienced and skilled fighters. There were capable guards serving the settlement with comparable or even more expertise.

“It’s because the monster who had come here before to hurt our Dubu has passed on the list of currently serving guards of the village to his gang members. It includes sketches of the guards and more information. The two of us aren’t there, since we weren’t part of the guard team then, and so they wouldn’t be able to recognize us, if we get caught during our mission.”

“Oh.” That explained everything. “So when do we leave?”

“The day after tomorrow.” Sunggyu answered. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘we’? Are you coming too?” Sunggyu pulled back to look at him.

Woohyun was not really sure if it was the best option, but the mission was dangerous on its own, and Sunggyu going alone would be even riskier. And Woohyun wanted to end those filthy creatures too. Killing humans was not something that was on Woohyun’s list of favourite things to do, but in this world where there was no nationwide system of justice, and where no law enforcing agencies based on constitutions existed, it was up to every settlement to make up their own laws. And the guards were allowed to kill people for protection of the village.

It would be really dangerous and the most challenging task undertaken by them, yet Woohyun wanted to go. He was not sure about serving as a guard again, but his village and the kids needed him this time, and he would protect them.

“I am going with you.”

 

 

 

Sunggyu was neither happy nor sad about the outcome. On one hand, the mission had higher chances of being successful if Woohyun were with him. But on the other hand, Woohyun had a risk to his life too that way. But the younger was as capable as him, if not more, so Sunggyu wasn’t one to judge his skills.

That did not alleviate his concerns about Woohyun’s life being in danger though and he only prayed to God that he made them return safe with mission accomplished.

Sunggyu had to write a letter to his mom too. He hadn’t even informed her about him getting together with Woohyun, and about she now would have the cute grandchild she had always wished for. He had been itching to write to her ever since he got together with Woohyun, but he hadn’t yet received a reply to his last letter.

But now he couldn’t wait anymore. He would have to write a letter to her before leaving, and hoped he would be able to see her joy soon as she wished him and Woohyun a happy life together when they would meet her after returning from their mission.

 

 

 

They were to wake up at four in the morning tomorrow and head outside their settlement.

Currently the two of them were camping right inside the outermost wall. There was a room reserved for the two for them in one of the resting places, and it was decided that they would go to sleep by eight in the evening.

The whole day had been spent on preparations.

Firstly in the morning, the two had visited the guards to accept the mission. After that, Dahyun had been entrusted to Woohyun’s parents.

Their friends had come to help them with the planning. The sixteenth guard team were not allowed to help Sunggyu and Woohyun in any capacity outside Gwangju limits because as per the instructions of the guard force, the gang was keeping an eye on the tasks undertaken by the guards through some means, so any involvement in the mission by any other guards would be a danger and give up the cover.

But the five had helped the two in preparing plans and stocking weapons.

Woohyun was glad he set aside some time for exercising daily because he was still fit, otherwise it would have been difficult to travel the distance.

On the other hand, Sunggyu was as lean as ever, except his cheeks had become slightly chubbier and Woohyun liked to play with them.

Currently, he was doing that as they had the room to themselves after everyone had left.

Sunggyu looked really annoyed at him, but of course he would look annoyed because it was not just playing with his cheeks that Woohyun was doing.

Woohyun had been trying to tempt him into doing stuff with him since the past one hour.

And now he was sitting on Sunggyu’s lap trying to get his attention. “Do you not want me anymore?” He pouted.

“We have an important mission to start tomorrow.” Sunggyu said, his hands resting on Woohyun’s waist.

Woohyun adjusted himself so he was sitting with his legs on either side of Sunggyu, straddling him, and locking his legs around him. That made him be at a height over the older for once. He placed a soft kiss on Sunggyu’s forehead. “Yes” He said, stroking Sunggyu’s cheeks, “And we need to relax.”

“You want to relax like this?” Sunggyu asked, while pointing to his abused cheeks, asking for a kiss from Woohyun over there.

Woohyun obliged, and continued to place kisses over Sunggyu’s face and neck. “Yeah” He said. “Besides, we don’t know how long it might take for us to return.”

They both knew there were chances of them not returning alive, but they did not speak of it as a possibility.

“And we aren’t supposed to indulge in any distraction during missions. This is our only chance.” Woohyun tried to convince him.

“Hmm” Sunggyu mumbled, as his hands went down to Woohyun’s shorts and under it, making Woohyun moan out his name due to the unexpectedness. “I am already in for this thing.” Sunggyu whispered into his ear.

 

 

 

In the end, they had only ended up jerking each other off. There wasn’t anything else they could try as sore asses were not something any one of them wanted to experience when they had to travel long the next day.

Since the distance they had to cover was huge, they were first to travel on motorbikes till they reached Daegu, and then switch to travelling on cycles.

Travelling on motorbikes was faster hence safer, but the sound attracted both zombies and humans, the latter because people rarely travelled by motorbikes in this day, and if anyone were to do that, they would look at them as if they were novelty.

The guards were given plenty practice of travelling on those machines, so both Sunggyu and Woohyun were acquainted with riding it. In fact, both loved riding motorbikes. So Sunggyu was hoping Woohyun would let him be the rider.

They walked a little distance from the wall dressed as wayfarers, so that anyone keeping an eye on the wall wouldn’t be suspicious of the two heading out that early and think they were mere travellers instead.

As planned, the motorbike was parked ready in a safe place. The two took off their extra clothes and kept it hidden on a branch of a tree.

Now they were in fully casual clothes which covered their body in entirety and had thick material. They had leather jackets on, with helmets over the head for protection, and gloves covering the hands.

As Sunggyu went to take his seat on the bike… Woohyun was already there waiting for him, sitting on the front.

Sunggyu pouted, but that couldn’t be seen through his helmet, and it wasn’t like Sunggyu could speak out to convey his desire to be the rider, they could be caught if they made noise. Leaving as soon as possible was the safest decision, so Sunggyu sat behind Woohyun, after securing their bag packs on the back.

Woohyun brought Sunggyu’s hand to surround his waist, and Sunggyu was reminded of some scenes from romance novels he had read from pre-apocalypse times (don’t judge him, he had read those for learning about love as suggested by Myungsoo), where the girl would sit behind her lover as he took them on a long ride.

It made him feel like that too, but he suddenly alerted himself. Now wasn’t the time to be having those thoughts. They could be attacked at any moment, by zombies, especially zombies. Sunggyu had first-hand experience of that while in his time in the outside world. Any lapse in concentration would be deadly. And as much as Sunggyu did not want to be alive while Woohyun was dead, he was sure Woohyun wouldn’t like to see Sunggyu dead too. So he had to take care of the both of them. It was for the best that they both returned alive.

Sunggyu held onto Woohyun tight as a rustling from behind startled them. It was a deer running away from something and they did not wait to find out what it was running from, as Woohyun started the bike and it took them far away.

 

 

 

It was already five hours since they had left Gwangju. It would probably take three hours more to reach Daegu.

Since there weren’t proper roads and random obstacles would pop up out of nowhere, travelling was a hassle those days.

Woohyun stopped the bike next to an empty house when Sunggyu patted on his shoulder from behind.

The house was surprisingly clean. That creeped them out because it could be a hideout for some bandits. So they took a quick break for ten minutes while on alert the entire time, and took off from there soon.

Sunggyu drove this time, and Woohyun was glad about that, because he was already exhausted. They had come across a group of twenty zombies running at them before and Woohyun had had to meander his way through them carefully. The whole ride had been tiring to him, because at one point they were also about to fall into a ditch, but stopped due to Woohyun’s sixth sense.

Now that Sunggyu was riding, Woohyun took his time to rest. He couldn’t really rest as his eyes had to be alert of the surrounding areas, since Sunggyu was focused on the front, but that was comparatively easier.

The ride starting from their rest at the creepy house had been uneventful. The only major thing that happened was that they came across a group of houses gutted by fire, and they couldn’t rule it out as a forest fire, because all the vegetation surrounding the houses were intact, but the houses were burnt to ashes.

There wasn’t anything left to investigate there, but they noticed a few charred skeletons from the distance, and would have investigated it if they had time, but they couldn’t fall behind the plan, so they took off from the place soon.

 

 

 

Once they reached Daegu, the guards there made them settle near an outpost far away from the main settlement.

The guards there knew both of them, so it wasn’t much of a hassle and the Daegu settlement was a participant of their plan too.

Entering the main village would have raised suspicions, so the two were kept hidden in a house near the outpost.

From there, they obtained a map of the gang’s hideouts and took off for the structure they were supposed to target.

This was the most difficult part as they had to stay as hidden as possible while trying to locate the gang’s base.

The cycles made no noise, zombies who would come across them would, and that would be an indicator of presence of other humans in the area.

So Sunggyu and Woohyun resorted to keeping away from zombies as much as possible. They separated during the search, because if the two were to be caught together, that would mean end of the mission.

If only one was caught, the other could carry on with the mission. Though Sunggyu wasn’t sure how he was going to carry on with the mission if Woohyun were to be caught, yet that was how most teams in hostile territories worked. They stayed within close distance of each other, but stayed separate.

However, Sunggyu while on his own, had dodged a zombie and now it was moving in the direction Woohyun was currently in according to Sunggyu. Sunggyu was not supposed to follow it, but he did because there were chances the zombie would take Woohyun off guard.

So he stealthily followed in the zombie’s direction. The place which was supposed to be the gang’s base was visible in the distance from the top of the trees, but thankfully the foliage around them was thick enough to hide their presence.

The zombie however stopped walking after a while, but Sunggyu still looked out for Woohyun. When his eyes finally caught sight of Woohyun though, he forgot to breathe.

Woohyun was flat on the ground, a pool of blood forming under his head.

 

 

 


	15. 14. break

 

 

 

For some seconds, Sunggyu was frozen to the spot, unable to move, unable to do anything.

The love of his life was lying on the ground, his head bleeding, and the sight shocked him.

What if… what if… Woohyun was dead?

No that couldn’t be.

First of all, Sunggyu had to check on Woohyun. He would be alive of course, Sunggyu hoped. He had to stay positive.

But before approaching the younger, Sunggyu had to search for the perpetrator of the attack on Woohyun.

The attacker had to be around definitely. They were a human, since if a zombie had bitten Woohyun, then the creature would be around still devouring the bitten person. And even in case, Woohyun had run away from the zombie after being bitten and fallen to the ground subsequently, he should have already turned into a zombie by this time.

So the attacker had to be a human.

And in that case, they had probably left Woohyun lying there in the open, so that they could lure his companions there.

That was a common tactic used by thieves, Sunggyu knew.

Whenever a person would be injured, all their companions would come to rescue them, and they could be caught too.

So Sunggyu, with a burning heart, took his sight away from Woohyun, and silently scanned the area around for people. The attacker could be more than one person too.

Finally, he noticed a person, all dressed in brown, crouching by a rock, right opposite in the direction Sunggyu was. The person had his gaze fixed on Woohyun’s body on the ground, and Sunggyu was sure he was definitely an amateur, because the person ought to be looking at his surroundings, and not at the bait.

So Sunggyu sneaked up behind him, and gave him a hard hit on the head.

When he was sure that the person was unconscious, Sunggyu hid the person in an inconspicuous place, covering him with leaves. He then scanned the area again quick, and ran to Woohyun once done.

The younger was thankfully still breathing, and Sunggyu heaved a huge sigh of relief. He picked up the younger in his arms carefully, and walked some distance to a place which he deemed safer.

There, he made Woohyun lie on his lap, and checked his head.

The injury was minor, probably as a result of the fall. The man who had attacked Woohyun had probably only knocked him unconscious like Sunggyu had done to him, and Woohyun must have fallen to acquire the injury on his head. It was still bleeding, so Sunggyu took a clean cloth from his pocket, and applied pressure with it on the bleeding to stop it.

After some time, the bleeding stopped, and Sunggyu tried to make Woohyun come to his senses.

Unfortunately, nothing worked.

So he made Woohyun ride piggyback on him. It took a lot of time to get the position right, since Woohyun was not in his senses, but eventually he succeeded in standing with Woohyun on his back.

Two of the undead had decided to just creep up on them from behind right then, but their moans gave them away, and Sunggyu killed them both with dual blows, his dagger striking right on their head.

The journey to their hideout took fifteen minutes, and Sunggyu was dead tired, but he couldn’t give up. Even a little longer time taken in reaching, could mean a huge mess of everything.

Even though Woohyun’s injury seemed to be minor, unlike what Sunggyu had feared, yet it would be better if a proper doctor checked on him.

Also, Sunggyu had to collect Woohyun’s attacker from where he had hidden him, before the gang found out that their member was missing. It had to be a member of the gang, after all, why else would the man have attacked Woohyun?

So once he reached their hiding place, he requested the soldiers there to bring a doctor.

Once they assured him that they would look after Woohyun in the meantime till the doctor arrived, Sunggyu went back with two soldiers to retrieve their cycles and the attacker.

By the time, Sunggyu reached the hideout again, the doctor was exiting his and Woohyun’s assigned house. The soldiers who were supposed to look after Woohyun were outside too and informed Sunggyu that Woohyun was conscious now and alone inside the place.

The doctor informed Sunggyu that everything was fine, and that he had bandaged the part where the injury had been. But it would heal soon and it was advisable to rest for one day at least.

Sunggyu was so relieved that he bowed down fully to the doctor in gratitude. When he had come across Woohyun lying down like that unconscious, he had been in utter shock.

He had even considered the possibility of the younger being dead, and just reliving the thought made him feel terrified.

Now that Woohyun was alive and conscious, Sunggyu couldn’t help but smile in relief. He handed over the attacker, after tying him up securely, to the Daegu guards. They would interrogate the attacker and give the pair more details.

After taking off his shoes outside, Sunggyu stepped into their temporary resting place, it was just a single room house, with one bed. Woohyun was sitting up on the bed. He looked sick, but when he noticed Sunggyu, he moved to get off the bed to go to him.

Sunggyu did not let him do that, and ran to him, hugging him with care.

Woohyun punched his chest lightly. His voice came off distressed, as he hugged Sunggyu tightly. “Where were you?”

Sunggyu did not answer to that. Instead, he asked, “Are you fine?”

“I am not.” Woohyun’s voice broke, as he pulled away from him. Woohyun took Sunggyu’s face in his hands, and looked at him, his eyes accusing him of betrayal. “Where had you gone leaving me behind?”’ He asked.

“I was just outside. We had to bring the person who had attacked you, and also get the cycles back, before anyone took cognizance of them and became suspicious.” Sunggyu replied, touching Woohyun’s bandaged head.

“Then why did you not take me with you?” Woohyun was angry. The younger’s grip on his face tightened, and Sunggyu could feel that Woohyun was scared.

“You weren’t conscious baby.” He tried to convince him. “Besides, I took the help of two soldiers.”

“You should have woken me up anyhow. How dare you go on your own without taking me?”

Sunggyu wondered of ways to make Woohyun calm down.

“I was so afraid.” Woohyun admitted. “When I came to consciousness, you weren’t here, and when I asked those soldiers and the doctor here, they would only tell me you would return soon, and I couldn’t trust them. I was so scared.” Woohyun had moisture in his eyes.

Sunggyu wanted to assure him that he wasn’t in danger at all, and in fact Woohyun had been already in danger, but before he could speak up, Woohyun shut his mouth with his lips.

Sunggyu welcomed that and kissed back, as tears fell from his eyes when he recollected Woohyun’s state before.

That image of Woohyun lying on the ground unconscious was going to haunt Sunggyu for a long time, but currently Woohyun distracted him from it, by completely taking his attention away.

The way Woohyun kissed him was as if it was their last kiss, there were too many emotions involved, and they even clashed their noses, in the haste to return to kissing when they had to stop for breathing.

But nothing stopped them for being in the other’s arms for an hour.

Sunggyu only separated from Woohyun, when there was a knock on the door. Opening it slightly with a knife hidden in his other hand, Sunggyu found that it was one of the guards with a soldier standing outside.

He invited them in, and the guard gave them a brief on the situation.

The attacker Sunggyu had caught was one of the members of the gang. After several tries, they had obtained information from him that there were total five members in the gang, four male and one female.

The gang was headed by a couple, the remaining three members were more like assistants. One of the assistants had been the captured person, the other was the one who had attacked Dahyun in Gwangju and one of them was still with the gang.

After obtaining some more information, the Daegu guards had killed the attacker.

That was for good, Sunggyu thought. They had one less person to dispose off.

The visitor guard left after sharing with them the information, and the soldier accompanying him left too, after placing food for them on the table in the room.

 

 

 

Woohyun found himself appreciating Sunggyu more today.

That was because he had been distressed on not having Sunggyu next to him after coming to consciousness.

He had been confused then and though the doctor had told him Sunggyu had brought him there because he had been knocked unconsciousness, Woohyun had been panicking right until Sunggyu had returned.

And he wouldn’t let Sunggyu out of his sight ever again.

That would not work with their mission, but to hell with the mission.

Before heading here, Woohyun had considered the possibility of losing Sunggyu to death, but experiencing it was a completely different thing in all, and that was something he never wanted to experience again.

He could feel a similar feeling from Sunggyu towards him, but that did not make him relieved though. Sunggyu did not seem to want to stop with the mission at all.

It was not like Woohyun wanted to abort the mission, but he wanted Sunggyu safe. If that meant he would have to fulfil the mission on his own, he was ready to do that.

When they were getting ready for bed, Woohyun went to Sunggyu, who was checking his weaponry. “What are you doing?” He asked, curious.

“Checking stock for tomorrow. I don’t want to run out of arms.” Sunggyu replied, continuing with his task.

“But where are you going tomorrow?” Woohyun asked, already guessing the answer.

Sunggyu turned to him. “To undertake the plan.”

“You are not going anywhere.” Woohyun ordered.

Sunggyu looked at him oddly. “Of course I am. Who will end off those people otherwise?”

“I will.”

Sunggyu looked at him, as if he was joking.

Suddenly there were hands on the back of Woohyun’s thighs, as Sunggyu lifted him up in his arms, carrying him to the bed.

Once he was laid down, Woohyun looked at Sunggyu who lied down next to him. “Goodnight.” The older said, and went to sleep.

As if Woohyun was going to let the matter slide like that. “I am going tomorrow.” Woohyun declared, sitting up.

Sunggyu turned towards him really fast. “Are you crazy?” He asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe I am. But you will be staying back here. And I will be on the job tomorrow.”

“No.” Sunggyu sat up, arguing back.

And from then on it was a volley of arguments and curses as the two bickered with each other in low voices so as to not bring attention to their hideout.

 

 

 

It was enough to say that they were not looking eye to eye with each other.

The two had spent around an hour yesterday fighting with each other about who was to go on the mission tomorrow. They had only stopped when both had been on the verge of crying in frustration, and deciding that there was no end to the argument.

So today the two had headed out on their own ways and were separately conducting the plan.

That was stupider, Woohyun knew. If Sunggyu had not been around him yesterday, Woohyun would have lied unconscious down there on the ground till a zombie came and bit him. That would have been the end of him.

So it was really foolish for them to head out separately. Besides, that way, if any of them would get caught, the other wouldn’t know and they would get caught soon if the gang started searching the area.

But neither wanted the other to go, and neither was backing away and aborting the mission, so this was what they had ended up with.

Truth be told, Woohyun wanted to run to Sunggyu, and become his personal guard. That could work out. Sunggyu could decide on the plans and stuff, while Woohyun could concentrate on his and Sunggyu’s safety.

That would indeed work out well.

But Woohyun was sure Sunggyu wouldn’t listen. He had been pretty adamant about Woohyun needing rest.

So Woohyun headed towards the structure on his own. He was planning to conduct a recce of the area around the structure, so that he could attack the structure tomorrow. That had been their original plan.

He hoped Sunggyu stuck to that too, and did not go straight to attack the gang, as that would mess up a lot of things.

A sudden shriek sounded in the air, followed by the sound of the birds flying away from that place, and it startled Woohyun.

What if someone had hurt Sunggyu? There was no other friendly human presence in the area, and if Sunggyu had to hurt someone, he would do it in a way that would attract the least attention. He wouldn’t have let whoever he was attacking, shriek in response.

It also meant that Woohyun had to flee from the area soon. The gang members would have definitely heard the shriek and would be investigating the area.

Woohyun had to leave so as to not get caught, but he had to find Sunggyu first, and see if he was alright. His intuition told him the shriek was not Sunggyu’s, yet confirming was the best option.

So he went towards that direction.

There was something holding him back suddenly though, and Woohyun was about to bury his dagger right into the head of whoever it was, but he stopped in the last moment.

It was Sunggyu.

The older made a gesture to remain quiet. Woohyun nodded in reply, and the two fled from the area.

 

 

 

“There was a girl.”

Sunggyu was pacing back and forth in their room. It was afternoon time, and both had their lunches waiting for them on the table, yet they were not eating. Woohyun sat on the bed, waiting for Sunggyu to continue.

“And this woman was dragging her by the hair, towards their base.” Sunggyu completed.

That image was horrifying in itself, but what Sunggyu said next made Woohyun glad that he had not yet eaten his food.

“The girl had burn marks all over her body. She is also regularly beaten by them if the marks over her face are anything to go by.”

“How do you know all of this?” Woohyun asked.

“I was there when they passed by from close to where I was. It wasn’t hard to miss them. There were a girl and a boy with the woman, when they passed from where I had been. I was spying at them, from the top of a tree. Then suddenly two zombies ran towards them, and the woman pushed the boy towards them, and…”

Woohyun regretted separating from Sunggyu in the morning. It must have been horrifying to watch all of that alone, and not make a sound. “Please sit for a while Sunggyu.” Woohyun requested. The older had been pacing back and forth right from the time they returned.

“I can’t.” Sunggyu replied. “I couldn’t save him Woohyun. I am such a failure.”

Woohyun went to him and forced him to sit on the bed. He stroked his back, trying to calm him. “Do you want to talk more about it?” He asked.

Sunggyu nodded, holding Woohyun’s hands tight, interlinking their fingers. “I couldn’t save the boy because by the time I realized what had happened, he was already a zombie. After all, I did not expect her to suddenly throw the boy at the zombies. But then she told the girl to fight the three zombies all by herself. And the girl had to do that. She must have been so devastated. The other kid was probably one of her friends. To make her kill him… people are horrible Woohyun” Sunggyu cried into his shoulder.

Woohyun was shocked at the story too, but he knew he wouldn’t feel as bad as Sunggyu, because he had not experienced the event first-hand. If just listening to the narration of the event made him feel horrible, then actually witnessing it would be a hundred times worse.

“Then the woman dragged the girl by her hair somewhere, probably their base. I want to go kill her now Woohyun. The girl would be subject to more torture. I can’t wait anymore.”

Woohyun wanted to do that too, but they had still not studied the area properly. But he had one doubt in his mind, why had Sunggyu not taken the woman by surprise then? And why had he not attacked her when she had not located Sunggyu? So he asked about that.

“Because the girl let out a loud shriek and the woman started looking here and there to stay safe from zombies. She would have noticed me had I not left from there. Besides, I had to look for you too, because I was sure you would head towards us after listening to the loud voice and that could have got you caught.”

That was right. “We’ll work as a team tomorrow.” Woohyun said.

“Huh?” Sunggyu looked at him surprised.

“I am sorry.” Woohyun brought Sunggyu’s hands to his lips and pressed a kiss over them. “I am sorry for arguing with you. But this is my mission too. And now I understand I can’t stop you from being a part of this. This is equally your fight. So please let us work together.”

“But I will be constantly worried about you getting hurt. You already got hurt once Woohyunie.” Sunggyu patted his hair.

“I know. I understand that. But I was more worried about you when you were not with me today.”

Sunggyu looked down.

“We work the best as a team, don’t we?” Woohyun asked.

There was silence for some time, as Sunggyu pondered over that.

But then rapid knocks in succession came over the door.

Woohyun was confused. They had a secret knocking code, and yet took precautions, but now the person who was on the other side did not even know the secret code, since the knocks now were random.

It was an outsider, and they had to think of something quick.

Sunggyu climbed down the bed soundless, and gestured to Woohyun to follow him.

They could hide under the bed and wouldn’t have to confront the stranger if it was a gang member.

Woohyun followed Sunggyu after arranging the bed cover in such a way that it covered the bottom of the bed.

They lied under the bed silently next to each other, hoping it was not any dangerous situation. If the gang members had discovered that they were targeted now by the two and had also learnt of their hideout, then it would be a big obstruction in completing the mission.

Besides if the gang found them out now, it would be difficult to take them on unprepared. Sunggyu had a knife hidden in his socks, whereas Woohyun had nothing. Yup definitely life-threatening situation.

The two waited for some time after the knocks stopped.

But suddenly the door burst open. The noise from that wasn’t loud enough to call attention, but enough for Woohyun to know that whoever had been outside, had managed to enter their place.

Footsteps resounded through the room.

Woohyun prayed that they wouldn’t be caught. He realized their food was lying on the table uneaten. That would raise enough suspicion to the intruder about the existence of people in the house.

But the sound of footsteps stopped after a while, and Woohyun was relieved. They waited for a long time under the bed itself though, for about half an hour, and then ventured out carefully. The front door was closed and they checked the entire place to see if someone was hiding.

They found no one though.

Their bags had been deposited safely elsewhere. The only things belonging to them present in the room had been the food, some clothes and maps of the base of the gang members.

Of course the map had disappeared. Now the gang members had to know there were people after them. It was an open war now.

“It’s strange they haven’t moved a thing except the map.” Sunggyu said, as he sat down to eat.

Woohyun was in no mood to eat after listening to the horrific story Sunggyu had told, and after this unexpected visit they had received. He wondered about Sunggyu’s statement too, the intruder had to have done something. Even if their targets weren’t present, why would they just visit and leave like that? Evil people always did something or the other to harm you.

And then he realized…

“What are you doing?!” Sunggyu asked, as there was soup all over his hands now.

Woohyun had forcibly taken away the spoon Sunggyu was about to take in his mouth, and had thrown it away, resulting in the soup falling over Sunggyu’s hand. “Hyung, they could have poisoned the food!”

There was visible shock on Sunggyu’s face, as he pushed himself away from the table. “That was really careless of me.” He mumbled, and Woohyun was sure the older had completely lost his appetite too now.

Sunggyu mumbled a low ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’ and Woohyun concluded that working as a team was the best after all.

 

 

 

The two were totally unaware that they were being watched from a hole in the ceiling of the place. The thing watching them became more and more restless as time passed, and it wasn’t going to take long for it to reach insanity.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this isn’t a horror story XD


	16. 15. answer

 

 

 

The cycle of seasons was completely different in the post apocalypse period. As years passed, the weather had drastically changed. There wasn’t any explanation to the phenomenon, because they did not have any access to scientists who studied that.

So the only thing they could do was to accept the weather however it was, and adapt to it.

It was snowing currently, and Sunggyu was annoyed.

They would have to wear thicker clothes outside to brave the weather, and heavier clothes made them slower.

The two had been shifted to another place after they had informed the Daegu guards about the intruder. Thankfully the intruder had not harmed any Daegu soldiers because that had been one thing Sunggyu had been worried about.

Now they were inside the Daegu settlement. Them being there was dangerous for the Daegu population, but remaining outside would mean death now. The gang would be looking for them.

But the main reason they had shifted was because of something eerie Woohyun had noticed.

The place they had been living in earlier was a small one room house below the canopy of a tree. And Woohyun had sworn he had seen something spying at them from the top of the house. When the two had gone to investigate the roof, they had found a hole which could be used to spy on, but there wasn’t anything on top of the roof.

Yet Woohyun had been sure he had seen someone there. So they had immediately shifted.

Now that they were in a safer place, they began discussing the steps to be taken next.

It was decided that they would conduct the attack at night time. Going at night time was suicide, since the gang members would be acquainted with the area and Sunggyu and Woohyun had still not studied the area properly.

Yet it was for the best that the gang was eliminated as soon as possible, for the safety of the kids and the village.

So the two rested for a few hours and took off for the location of the base of the gang at seven in the evening.

They avoided the shortest route and went through a slightly longer one so as to sneak up on the base without getting caught.

No light source was used except the moonlight, as it could alert of their presence in the forest.

They walked to their destination, not using cycles for once, as a precautionary measure.

The two walked hand in hand, so as to not get separated in the dark of the night. Their hands become sweaty soon, so they switched sides to hold the other hand, but did not let go of each other.

It would seem childish and sappy, but Sunggyu was walking with his heart unprotected in the open. His heart belonged to Woohyun, and Woohyun was walking in danger out in the open. They were accustomed to difficult situations being guards, but this whole thing was especially scary, and that Woohyun had been hurt once already helped to make Sunggyu more paranoid.

So them holding hands was a constant reminder to him that Woohyun was by his side and alive, and that did enough to calm his heart.

But they were forced to split up, when the moan of zombies resounded in the air. Instantly they climbed up the trees nearby, and Sunggyu felt a bit nervous because Woohyun was on another tree, however he tried to focus on the mission.

His concentration would help them get out of this safely. Even a bit of carelessness could cost them their lives.

Using the foliage of the tree as camouflage, Sunggyu hid himself from the wandering eyes of anyone looking up for them.

For some time, it was only a group of zombies walking aimlessly, heading towards a random direction. It chilled Sunggyu’s heart when he realized that most of the zombies were kids. He couldn’t look at Woohyun, because the younger was well hidden on the other tree, but he hoped Woohyun was fine.

Woohyun was more affected by such types of events. And Sunggyu had actually been glad that Woohyun had not been with him last time when the woman had thrown the poor boy with her to the zombies and made the girl kill him. That would have broken Woohyun.

But Sunggyu knew that what they would come across tonight could be ghastlier, so he had to put more efforts to protect them both, in case Woohyun snapped and lost his mind. He had to stay strong for the two of them.

As the zombies seemed to have moved to other parts of the forest, Sunggyu wondered if it was safe to go down again. He decided to move to the upper branches of the tree to have a proper look of the area, but there was a whirring sound in the air, which definitely belonged to an arrow being stricken.

He pulled his attention to look around him.

There was nothing to indicate anyone had been shot by an arrow, but that sort of deadly precision which could kill someone with one strike, rested with only one person.

Nam Woohyun.

Sunggyu waited with bated breath for something to move, for something to indicate what had just happened, and then Woohyun jumped to the ground from the adjacent tree.

Sunggyu took some time to study the surroundings, so he could be prepared if anyone suddenly attacked Woohyun, now that he was in the open, but there wasn’t anyone around, except a person whom Woohyun approached.

Sunggyu was about to shout at Woohyun to stop. The younger shouldn’t be approaching anyone like that, they could be a zombie after all, but he noticed the clothes and the hair, and realized that it was the girl he had seen before, the girl who had been with the woman.

So he got down from the tree quick, pulling Woohyun away from her. The girl was wearing casual clothes- a top and jeans, and was probably around fourteen years old. Her eyes were blank, as he stared at them. Her mouth was tied with a cloth, and she could very well be a zombie. She even staggered like one. As she suddenly came closer, Sunggyu pulled Woohyun back to his chest, and then behind him.

“Stay back.” He said lowly, maintaining distance between himself and the girl.

The girl stopped staggering towards them and turned her direction to walk to the other side.

That was proof enough for Sunggyu that she wasn’t a zombie, because a zombie wouldn’t go away from their meal even if they couldn’t bite them. Zombies would still scratch and try to plunge their mouth into human flesh. Since she wasn’t doing that, she was still one of them.

Before Sunggyu could approach her though, Woohyun held Sunggyu back. He whispered, “I’ll take care of her. You dispose him off.” He pointed to a distance.

And at the place where Woohyun had pointed, there was a man with an arrow struck right at his chest. He was most certainly dead, and Sunggyu did not waste any time in approaching the corpse. He hid the body in an unsuspicious place.

The man was likely accompanying the girl, which is why Woohyun had killed him. He might be the third assistant of the gang then, Sunggyu thought. He could only confirm that once they were in a safer place.

Sunggyu went back to the place where he had been, and when he reached there, Woohyun had untied the cloth over the girl’s mouth and hands, and was whispering something to her. The girl whispered back, but froze when she noticed Sunggyu.

Sunggyu realized he must have not given a good impression to her, since he had held Woohyun away when she had approached them, as if she was a monster. However, Woohyun whispered something to her, and she calmed down suddenly, softening her gaze.

She whispered back to Woohyun, and started walking away from the place. Woohyun followed her and indicated Sunggyu to follow them.

 

 

 

They walked a long distance, which was away from the base, and Sunggyu was growing restless. They were essentially walking back to where there had started their journey from. And he hoped the girl was not just using them to escape.

Yes, Sunggyu wanted to help her escape, but now was not the time for that.

As per their information, there were in all nine kids with the gang. If one of them was the one who became a zombie before in front of Sunggyu’s eyes, and another was the girl with them, then there had to be seven more kids inside the base trapped.

If the gang realized that the girl had escaped, they could kill the other kids. And Sunggyu couldn’t let that happen. Sunggyu and Woohyun had promised themselves they would bring back the eight kids alive and safe. So they had to leave the girl in a safe place soon, and head back towards the base.

But the girl walked and walked, until they were out of the forest, and came by a river. She crossed the river, and Woohyun followed her.

Sunggyu was regretting not asking Woohyun what was going on, so once he crossed the river, he held Woohyun’s arm to stop him.

The girl turned towards them at that, as she must have realized they had stopped walking.

Sunggyu felt embarrassed to question Woohyun whether they could trust her, in front of her. She was already wary of Sunggyu and even though she had stopped being scared of him, Sunggyu could ruin his image again. And that wouldn’t be good in case she was someone they could trust for help in the mission.

She looked at Sunggyu sceptically, as Woohyun looked at Sunggyu inquisitive, waiting to know why Sunggyu had stopped him.

“Where are we going?” Sunggyu mouthed to him.

“Don’t worry.” Woohyun smiled. He came close to Sunggyu and whispered in his ear. “We can trust her.”

Sunggyu was still unsure because he was sure they had spent an hour walking now, and Sunggyu had no clue of where they were currently.

“We don’t have so much time.” Sunggyu whispered back.

“She said that would be fine.” Woohyun replied. “She’s taking us to a secret place. We have to trust her Sunggyu.”

Sunggyu was unconvinced, so Woohyun requested, “Please” He held Sunggyu’s face in his hands, and gave a long kiss on his lips.

If Woohyun was hoping Sunggyu would relent and agree to follow them just because of the kiss, then he was right.

Because Sunggyu was already following them now, the three having resumed their walk.

Sunggyu wanted to laugh at himself for being such a fool in love, but he had to admit Woohyun had him whipped. He was more embarrassed thinking that Woohyun had kissed him in public, in front of a third person, and was blushing at the realization.

So he was trying to stay away from both of them as he followed them, because he couldn’t face either of them- the girl, because of embarrassment, and Woohyun, because he did not want the younger to know how his one kiss had affected him so much.

It made him ashamed of himself that he had agreed so easily, and that Woohyun had to resort to that to convince him, but as time passed, he realized that probably Woohyun had not wanted to waste any more time, and that was the fastest way to convince Sunggyu.

That did not make him any less ashamed.

Woohyun turned back to him, and the younger’s eyes grew wide.

Sunggyu was taken aback by that, and before he realized that there was probably danger behind him, Woohyun had already crossed him, and Sunggyu turned to look that there was a zombie lying down on the ground behind him, Woohyun piercing a dagger at the head of it.

When the zombie was finally dead, Woohyun turned to Sunggyu and snarled at him angrily. “Stay alert.”

And Sunggyu was even more flustered then because he had made a fool out of himself twice in front of the girl, and now Woohyun was angry at him.

But this time… he couldn’t wallow in his thoughts.

Neither could he protest when Woohyun made him be in the centre of their formation. So now Sunggyu was following the girl, and Woohyun was behind him.

The feelings hit him like a ton of bricks, reminding him that he had done a disservice to his guard position. He wasn’t fit enough for the mission. He had been thinking Woohyun would lose his shit once he encountered the gang or the kids, but Woohyun was holding fine, and it was Sunggyu who had let emotions come in the way of staying safe.

He decided to put away the thoughts for later until they reached the place, because he couldn’t afford any more lapses in concentration.

 

 

 

As time passed, even Woohyun started growing sceptical, but soon the girl stopped in front of a huge rock. And began looking around.

She came to Woohyun and whispered to him, “Can you please check around this place to see if anyone is following us?”

Woohyun nodded and after gesturing Sunggyu to stay at his place, he looked around to see if anyone had tailed them. After some minutes of searching, he returned to the two.

Once he gave her the thumbs up, the girl started pushing aside the rock. As it moved, uncovering what was behind it, Woohyun was surprised to find a cave.

The girl entered it, and Sunggyu followed her, Woohyun behind them.

She lit up the place, with some forest wood.

Once they were settled inside, with the rock covering the cave behind them, the girl sat down.

Woohyun sat beside her, while Sunggyu leaned at the wall of the cave, standing at a slight distance from them.

Woohyun was still angry at Sunggyu for letting his life be endangered like that, so he did not ask Sunggyu to join them like he normally would have.

The girl looked at them curiously and Woohyun hoped she ignored their fight and came to the topic at hand.

“What’s your name and what were you doing with that man? Where are you from?” Woohyun interrogated her.

“Thank you for saving me.” She said. “But I would like to know who the two of you are. I know you are here for help as you told me before, but why are you here?”

“I would like you to answer my question first.” Woohyun demanded.

The girl relented, a bit taken aback. “I am Choi Jinri, from Daegu village. That person and his bosses had me captured.”

Woohyun recollected her name from the list of names of missing kids from Daegu they had memorized. If she wasn’t lying about her name, then she had to be one of the missing kids. “I am Nam Woohyun.” He brought his hand forward to offer her a handshake.

She accepted it.

“Former head guard of Gwangju’s sixteenth guard team.”

She looked at him in awe at that.

Woohyun turned halfway towards Sunggyu, hoping he would introduce himself.

“Kim Sunggyu, a former guard under the leadership of former head guard Nam Woohyun.” The older said.

And Woohyun wanted to strangle Sunggyu. The second part of Sunggyu’s sentence was completely unnecessary. It was like Sunggyu was trying to convey he was beneath Woohyun, when that was not the case. Woohyun had been a head guard and had more responsibilities, but he knew their skills and experience was at the same level. The only reason Woohyun had easily defeated Sunggyu for the position had been because Sunggyu did not know swimming. If that had not been a part of the tests, it would have been a tough fight between them.

Woohyun wasn’t sure if that statement by Sunggyu was completely a taunt directed at him or if Sunggyu was actually having self-confidence issues, but he had a feeling it was a mixture of the both. Woohyun was angrier, but he also wanted to assure Sunggyu that he was as good as Woohyun.

If Woohyun had been in Sunggyu’s place, he would have also felt down for not being able to protect himself. But Woohyun was also to blame.

He had distracted Sunggyu with the kiss, and that had probably lead to the lack of concentration from Sunggyu’s side. That shouldn’t be an excuse, but still Woohyun was angry at the both of them, himself and Sunggyu.

The girl took them out of their thoughts. “Can you help me?” She requested with a broken voice, and Woohyun noticed she was crying.

 

 

 

Sunggyu stayed at his place, as Woohyun comforted the crying girl.

The green eyed monster was growing inside him, making him feel jealous, but he sucked it up, because he should also be comforting the girl. She was a kid after all, that Woohyun was doing the job, was a good thing.

Sunggyu caught Woohyun’s gaze wandering towards him once or twice. It was never for more than two seconds, but even those two seconds were enough to wreck Sunggyu’s emotions.

The girl finally started speaking up.

She told them that the cave had a secret tunnel which led directly to a clearing right outside the base. She was used by the gang members for menial work outside the base, and they would often leave her on her own, that was when she had discovered the place. They had not been in fear of her leaving because they had assured her that the moment she was missing, they would kill all the other kids. But the freedom had helped Jinri discover the cave, and the tunnel. She had used it twice already, and told them that the woman in charge of them would leave the base after one hour from then, since that was the time by which the assistant i.e. the man who had been with Jinri was supposed to bring her back to the base. Since they would be missing even then, the woman would head out to look for them, so according to Jinri, Woohyun and Sunggyu should walk through the tunnel from the cave after half an hour, and free the kids, when the woman would have left the base, since it took fifteen minutes to reach the base through the tunnel from there.

She also told them how they had been captured two months ago. There were five members in the gang. A couple were the head of the gang, but she had never seen the man. The woman would be ordering everyone. The three assistants obeyed her instructions and would get a part of their share of the earnings.

The woman would make the kids stitch clothes and then sell those at the black market some towns away. She would also make them do other tasks, or just harass them on any pretext. She would both mentally and physically abuse them, hitting them or throwing burning cigarettes on their faces.

She would also not hesitate to dispose them off, in case she felt like it. And she had already killed many of the kids. Only two of them were alive in the base currently apart from Jinri herself.

That came as a huge shock to Sunggyu. Until now, Sunggyu had been thinking that there were eight kids he would be saving, but that there were only three kids alive, was terrible news. The news was so sudden that it hit him like a slap. He looked to Woohyun, and the younger seemed to be in shock too.

Woohyun was crying as he comforted the crying girl, and Sunggyu wanted to go hug Woohyun and seek comfort from him because the news was so devastating that he was crying too. But he couldn’t, so he silently wept by himself.

The younger turned his gaze towards him, and the sight of a crying Woohyun made Sunggyu cry harder, but then Woohyun cried harder too. And Sunggyu was really close to just giving up on his hesitance and running to his love.

Woohyun did not move his gaze from him at all, so Sunggyu tried to break the eye contact. Maintaining the eye contact would only make them sob harder. He sat down on the ground, looking down at the pebbles on the floor of the cave. Some ants were passing by next to him, so he tried to look at them walking in a line, to distract his mind.

He was barely holding himself back from sobbing loudly. Him making any more noise, would only disturb Jinri and Woohyun, but then Woohyun called out. “Gyu”

Sunggyu found himself tearing up again at hearing Woohyun’s broken voice. He did not dare look up at the younger.

But Woohyun called out again, “Sunggyu, please”

Sunggyu looked up, biting his lips, to hold the sob back.

Woohyun was now sitting next to Jinri, no longer comforting her, as the girl seemed to have calmed down. She must have already cried at her friends’ deaths before. But Woohyun still had tears in his eyes, and he opened his arms to indicate Sunggyu to come to him.

Sunggyu looked down again, withholding himself from running to the younger. He was angry at himself, for being weak. And angry at Woohyun, for being angry at him earlier. He couldn’t give up now, and go to Woohyun like that. Woohyun did not deserve a loser like him anyway. And Sunggyu did not deserve any comforting from Woohyun too.

Jinri spoke up. “Woohyun sshi, why are you crying?”

Woohyun answered. “We were on a mission to end the gang. Your village is helping us to do that. They had come to ask us help for that. And we had promised to ourselves we would save you and your friends. But now we come to know that more than half of the kids are no more, that is really horrible…”

Sunggyu wanted to go to Woohyun badly now, because Woohyun was still crying, and he probably wanted Sunggyu by his side too. Sunggyu believed Woohyun needed him, but he wasn’t so sure about it. Was Sunggyu really capable of anything? Even something like being by Woohyun when he needed him.. No, he would probably only cause him more misery with his own negative feelings. So he stayed at his place.

“Hyung please come here” Woohyun requested.

Woohyun could have come to him, but he probably wanted Sunggyu to come to him on his own will, and not force himself on Sunggyu. But Sunggyu was going to stay away. That would be the best. He turned himself away, showing his back to the two, and then bringing up his knees to his face, he bent his head down to his knees to get over with his terrible thinking about everything, about how he had failed everyone- the villages who trusted him, the kids and Woohyun. Sunggyu had failed everyone.

Jinri spoke up again. “Woohyun sshi, why is Sunggyu sshi not coming to you? Did you have a fight? Is that because of the monster that attacked him?” She asked in her childlike curiosity referring to the event when the zombie had attacked Sunggyu. She had probably realized that the two had stopped talking after the zombie had attacked him, but since she was a kid, she had not understood that Woohyun had been angry at Sunggyu for not being alert enough. She continued with her questions though. “Or is he hurt and doesn’t want to show that to us? You should go check on him. You told me he’s your husband right? Please go check on him Woohyun sshi.”

Sunggyu choked on his tears at that. Woohyun had told her that Sunggyu was his husband? That was probably why she had stopped being wary of Sunggyu. That meant that Woohyun had told her he was his husband before their fight happened. Even though the younger had most likely said that only to assure her that Sunggyu was a good guy, yet the fact that he had said that made Sunggyu tear up. Woohyun had even kissed him after that. And when Sunggyu had been carelessly walking, Woohyun had saved him from the zombie and had been angry at him for not being alert enough.

That was because Woohyun cared for him.

The younger’s anger was justified, yet Sunggyu couldn’t bear Woohyun being angry at him. It made him feel upset and all sorts of negative feelings would stir inside him. Because even if they had fights and arguments, Woohyun would always believe in him. But the way Woohyun had snarled at Sunggyu before in disappointment, had made Sunggyu feel worthless.

He felt worthless now too, as he was blaming his incompetence on Woohyun.

“Jinri yah, can you give me and Sunggyu some space for a while? I want to have a personal talk with Sunggyu.” Woohyun said to the girl.

Jinri must have accepted because the sounds of her footsteps walking away from them and towards the inside of the cave, resounded inside. Sunggyu could hear Woohyun walking towards him, and his breath hitched when there was a hand on his back, and then Woohyun was back hugging him, his hands around his body. And legs on the ground on either side of Sunggyu.

Thankfully, Sunggyu had stopped crying, so he had to only concentrate on not letting Woohyun affect him. Woohyun had probably stopped crying too, because no sounds could be heard. But something wet fell on Sunggyu’s shoulder.

Woohyun said. “We couldn’t keep our promise Sunggyu. We should have come earlier.”

Sunggyu could suddenly feel Woohyun’s chest heaving, as his back was pressed to it. So the younger had started crying again now.

Woohyun’s words made Sunggyu cry too, and he gave a small kick to Woohyun’s leg next to him, as a punishment for making him cry again.

But then Woohyun hugged him tighter from behind. “I am sorry.” The younger said, right next to his ear.

Sunggyu did not want to hear more of that, so he brought his hands to his ears and shut them.

Woohyun placed his hands over Sunggyu’s and gently removed them. “I am really sorry Gyu, please forgive me.”

Sunggyu pushed Woohyun away. He felt like a child for making the issue about him, when they had to leave in some time to go save the kids, but it wasn’t like he had asked Woohyun to come to him. Woohyun should be ignoring him.

There was no sound from the younger for a while, and Sunggyu wondered if him pushing Woohyun away had been too harsh, but then, Woohyun back hugged him again.

The younger did not speak after that, and Sunggyu felt bad for rejecting Woohyun. It must have hurt him.

Woohyun did not move away though, and had stopped crying after a while.

Sunggyu was also fine now. Like always, being with Woohyun comforted him this time too, and he wanted to give the same comfort back to the younger. If only he could stop doubting himself, and learn to accept his mistakes… He knew that thinking about the same thing again and again would not solve the issue. He had to overcome problems by facing them head on after properly thinking. Sunggyu wanted to hug Woohyun back now, even though the younger was not crying anymore. Woohyun deserved a lot of love.

The younger pulled back though and Sunggyu already wanted him back closer, even though they were both sweating now from the heat inside the cave. Woohyun sat close, quiet, and Sunggyu only stared at him.

“Do you hate me?” Woohyun asked, looking down.

Sunggyu did not answer.

“I am sorry hyung.”

“What are you apologizing for? I don’t understand.” Sunggyu said.

Woohyun seemed to be at a loss of words, but then he replied, “For everything.”

“What do you mean by everything?”

“There’s always something or the other I do wrong and make you hurt somehow.” Woohyun said sadly.

“How do you say that?” Sunggyu was upset. He pulled Woohyun forward by his t-shirt towards him. “When I have hurt you the most, how dare you say you upset me?”

“Because I do! I have upset you so many times.”

“You haven’t.”

“Then why aren’t you talking to me?”

“Because I have disappointed you.”

Woohyun looked wide eyed at him at that. “Yes. Because you were distracted. But I was the cause of it right?”

“The main point is I couldn’t even defend myself from one zombie.” Sunggyu lamented.

“And I was really scared okay, but I hope you won’t make such mistakes again.” Woohyun said. “I just… reacted like that, because I was angry. You could have turned into one of them anytime, and I couldn’t even imagine that…” Woohyun moved forward, hugging Sunggyu. “Please don’t scare me like that again.”

Sunggyu knew and understood that, but he had still disappointed Woohyun. There was only one way to redeem that now, he realized. He took Woohyun’s hand in his, “Woohyun ah, what do you like the most?”

The younger looked at him as if he had gone crazy. “What? Why?”

“Tell me, what is your favourite thing? Or something you would like to have or do?” Sunggyu insisted.

“Spending time with you.” Woohyun said shyly.

Sunggyu blushed at that. “Not that, answer with something you like the most.”

“But that is what I like the most.” Woohyun pouted.

Sunggyu was overwhelmed. He gathered determination. “Okay then, once we are done with this mission, I will spend a day with you and we will do whatever you want to.”

Woohyun looked happy at that, but then, “Only one day?”

Sunggyu pondered over it for a while. “We have Dubu to look after too.”

Woohyun still looked at him with hopeful eyes.

“Okay… three days?” Sunggyu suggested.

“I love you Sunggyu.”

“I love you more.”

 

 

 


	17. 16. together

 

 

 

The tunnel was dark and creepy, since it was wider and bigger than they had expected.

Fire torches lit up their path, each of them carrying one, to illuminate a larger part of the tunnel.

It was a very short distance to the base, as they hadn’t even travelled half of the distance they had crossed to reach the cave from the base through the ground route.

Sunggyu had taken the position in the back this time, covering the others from behind. There essentially wasn’t any danger from behind, because no one knew about the cave hopefully, but they couldn’t completely discount all risks.

Jinri had led them, as Woohyun followed her close, to defend her, in case something unexpected came up from the front.

Once the end of the tunnel came into their sight, Jinri stopped at a considerable distance away from it.

“When you get out from there” She pointed to the exit. “It is a straight route to the back door of the base. No one guards that door, since it’s very well hidden. Mingyu and Yeonwoo should be in the room to the right when you enter. You can bring them back through this route. I will be waiting for you here.” She said.

“No. You go back. And wait at the cave. Keep your eye on both sides. In case you sense danger from any side, run in the opposite direction.” Woohyun said. “There are chances someone might see us when we get out of here now, so run away to the end, as soon as possible. If we do not return within two hours, set off on your own. Don’t wait.”

“Okay.” She said. “But be careful. Freeing them is easy, and even I could have done that, but the crazy person who lives there keeps an eye on things.”

“What crazy person? Are you talking about the husband of the woman?” Sunggyu asked.

“Yes. I have never seen him. But he lives in the room to the left, and he looks through the peephole there to keep an eye on us, whenever the woman is away.”

“Are his eyes scary? Really black?” Woohyun asked.

“Yes” She replied, looking a little surprised at Woohyun having known that detail. “I haven’t even thought of escaping because of him. Who knows what he might do to us. I am scared for you too, but since you are guards, maybe you can help us.” She pleaded desperately. “Please free them. I don’t want my two friends to die too. The rest are already…”

Sunggyu went to her, and held her hand. “Don’t worry. Just follow our instructions and remain safe.” He was surprised he had approached her, and she seemed surprised too.

She nodded and bowed to the two of them. “Thank you and please take care.”

Sunggyu smiled at her, and Woohyun handed her a few weapons in case she had to defend herself from someone.

 

 

 

It was night now, and the area was completely dark.

Woohyun doubted the gang members would let zombies roam here. But they still couldn’t ignore the threat of zombies attacking them from nowhere.

 So Woohyun was watching their backs for any surprise attacks from humans or non-humans, while Sunggyu moved forward, walking towards the back door.

Woohyun was quite sure that the woman’s husband was the person who had been spying on them that day through the hole on the roof of their temporary accommodation. That had been scary, and the person would be even more terrifying. He would also recognize the two of them, if he was inside so that was a big problem.

Woohyun had already discussed with Sunggyu about it, and they had decided to cover their lower faces with masks, so that they couldn’t be recognized easily.

Sunggyu opened the back door with the key Jinri had handed them, and peeked inside.

“He’s not there.” Sunggyu whispered to Woohyun.

So they entered inside.

And yes, the place was lit up with lanterns, two doors in front of them. But the left door had a hole and nothing was watching them through it.

So they wasted no time, and broke open the door in the right, making as less noise as possible.

There was a chance that either the woman, or her husband would be inside the room, but it was only two kids around Jinri’s age inside, who were tied up, and cuffed to the pillar in the room.

Woohyun went to untie the boy and Sunggyu did the same for the girl.

“Jinri sent us.” Woohyun whispered to them, since they looked scared.

The two kids calmed down after hearing that, and came closer to them. They were looking towards the door and Woohyun knew they wanted to escape as soon as possible.

So the two quickly led them to the tunnel.

Once they were inside, it was like they had completed the most important part of their mission. This was what they had come to achieve- the safety of the kids. Now what was left was to end the woman, and her husband, but that wasn’t as important as saving the kids.

But they couldn’t let the kids go alone to the cave. They were scared and beaten up, and it would be better if one of them guided them there. Now, Woohyun realized that maybe having Jinri wait for them here was better, but what was done couldn’t be changed.

“You accompany the kids to the end Sunggyu. I’ll look after the people outside.”

“No. You are good with kids. You can handle them better.” Sunggyu replied. “I’ll wait for you to come before engaging in a fight fully. I’ll try to keep them distracted until you return, otherwise they might end up finding this place, if they go on a search.”

“You are good with kids too.” Woohyun argued.

“Yes. But you will do better. Go quick.” Sunggyu pushed him towards the kids.

Woohyun wanted to argue, but Sunggyu was not going to engage in a fight before he returned, so that was some assurance for Sunggyu’s safety, and so Woohyun agreed.

 

 

 

The kids were all happy to be reunited, and Woohyun ordered them to stay there.

The woman could still be on a search outside, so even though for the kids it was better that they left the place as soon as possible, yet they could be caught by her and that would mean a torturous death, so Woohyun asked them to stay until he returned, unless they were in danger.

Once the kids agreed, he ran back to the end of the tunnel. He removed the rock that was hiding the exit, so that he could join Sunggyu outside.

But when the rock had been slightly pushed away, the sight that his eyes landed on made him almost scream in terror.

It was only his guard experience that made him stay calm.

He placed the rock back, covering the tunnel exit again, leaving only a slight gap, so he could peek through it.

The woman was right in front of him, and Sunggyu was… tied to the back door of the base.

The woman’s husband, or whatever horrendous creature that thing was, was tied to something next to Sunggyu, just a little inches away from reaching him.

And Woohyun noticed how horrible the creature was.

The creature had a human body, but its skin had all paled and was rotten. The creature resembled a zombie more than a human, and that’s when Woohyun realized that it was actually a zombie.

Woohyun wanted to go kill it as soon as possible, because that thing was right next to Sunggyu, so close to reaching him. If it managed to have one bite of Sunggyu, that would be the end.

But if Woohyun blew his cover, the woman might untie the monster, and unleash it on Sunggyu.

She was probably waiting for Woohyun, because her eyes were scanning the surroundings. She turned to Sunggyu impatiently. “Where’s your partner?”

Sunggyu could not answer of course. His mouth was covered with a cloth too. But he looked back at the woman fiercely.

And Woohyun wanted to tell the older to tone his gaze down, who knows what the woman might do to him.

The woman only cursed though, and crushed a few sticks she had in her hand.

She walked away somewhere and Woohyun wondered if she was pretending to not be there, so Woohyun would try to rescue Sunggyu, and reveal himself.

But he took that chance he had, and slipped out of the tunnel silently. It wasn’t that hard, considering the zombie humanoid creature had its sight entirely set on Sunggyu.

Woohyun walked some distance and climbed up a tree. He then shot an arrow right in front of the foot of the creature. The creature had not noticed that, since it was busy looking at Sunggyu, but not even the woman had come out at Woohyun’s experimental attack, so she must not be keeping an eye at them.

Woohyun took that chance and shot an arrow directly to the creature’s head. It died instantly.

But then the woman returned, and Woohyun grew really fearful.

He was almost about to step out into the open, but then before she could land her wicked hands around Sunggyu’s neck in anger, Sunggyu had broken the door behind him, and was now inside the base.

Woohyun was out of arrows, so he ran to the scene, and tackled the woman down.

She struggled violently, and Woohyun had his head thrown against the ground twice, and it pained, since he had already been hurt there before.

Sunggyu had untied himself by then, and it was the two of them now versus the crazy woman.

Woohyun had his dagger ready to end her, but Sunggyu stopped him .The older asked him to hold her back, and he went to retrieve a huge thick rope. They tied her with it, and placing her in a sack, they carried her to the tunnel.

Woohyun was confused about the turn of the events, but Sunggyu explained, “We can’t kill her yet. She has kidnapped more kids from other places, as per what she told me, and we have to force that info out of her.”

The kids looked scared at seeing her inside the sack, so Sunggyu carried her alone, away from the kids, at the back of their formation as they walked to Daegu.

Surprisingly, Jinri had offered to cover for Sunggyu from the zombies. And Woohyun respected her for not fearing the woman.

There were a few zombies they encountered in their path and both Mingyu and Yeonwoo hid behind Woohyun every time they encountered any of the undead, hoping Woohyun would protect them.

The difference between the kids was probably because Jinri was used to being outside, having to do work out of the base, and had got accustomed to zombies, whereas the other two were probably only kept inside.

Woohyun nevertheless kept his eye on the kids. They were too young to experience all of this.

They reached Daegu as the sun rose. The settlement was quite low with the celebrations once they returned in with the knowledge that only three of their kids had survived.

The Daegu guards appreciated the work done by Sunggyu and Woohyun, but the village spent the day mourning the loss of the other kids.

After taking a rest for some hours, Woohyun joined the mourning ceremony along with Sunggyu.

It went on for the entire day, after which, Sunggyu went first to share with the guards about what the woman had told him. Woohyun went later to give his account of their mission too, and he was relieved once he was done with that, because that meant he could go talk to Sunggyu and ask him how he had ended up being caught by the woman.

The woman had talked to Sunggyu, as per what the older told the guards, and Woohyun wanted to know what she had talked, because Sunggyu looked quite grim since then.

When Woohyun entered their place, after having a bath, Sunggyu was sitting on the bed, sorting his weapons.

Upon noticing him, Sunggyu opened his arms, and Woohyun went to him. The two rolled on the bed like kids, cuddling with each other.

“Ah I am tired. Let’s sleep.” Sunggyu said after some time.

Woohyun desperately wanted to know what Sunggyu had learnt from the woman, but Sunggyu looked truly exhausted. And Woohyun did not want to disturb him at the moment.

So he lied down next to the older, and they went to sleep.

 

 

 

To wake up in the middle of the night was not a good thing, especially for Woohyun, since it was difficult as it is to go to sleep. He had insomnia after all.

But he was awake now for some reason, and as he looked to his side, he noticed that Sunggyu had his eyes open. The older was looking at him, and he looked like a wreck.

Sunggyu was not crying, but he looked as if he had woken up from a nightmare.

“Are you alright?” Woohyun asked, his voice came out cracked from the sleep.

“Woohyun” Sunggyu said.

“Yes” He replied, caressing Sunggyu’s arm.

“Do you want to listen to the whole story?” Sunggyu asked.

Now? This seemed to be an odd time for them to talk about it, but Sunggyu probably couldn’t sleep, so Woohyun nodded. “Share it now only if you are comfortable.”

“I am sorry. But I can’t think properly and I want to talk with you now. I can’t sleep.” Sunggyu said.

“It’s alright Gyu. I will always be there for you.” Woohyun assured him. He was glad that Sunggyu wanted to talk about it with him, but whatever the thing was seemed too disturbing because it had managed to affect Sunggyu a lot.

“Before that” Sunggyu got up, looking a bit brighter, and leaned down over Woohyun, their faces close to each other. “Why did you tell Jinri that I was your husband?”

“Ah that” Woohyun tried to play it cool. “It was so she would trust us.”

Sunggyu bent further down, his lips touching Woohyun’s ear, and whispered. “If I ask you to be my husband, will you agree?”

Woohyun was out of his mind at that question. Why… was Sunggyu… so suddenly proposing to him out of nowhere?

“Hyun” Sunggyu voiced out, moving away to let his eyes meet Woohyun’s in the dim light of the room. “Will you?”

Woohyun was about to ask why Sunggyu was asking this now, but was that even a question? They were a couple, and there was no doubt at this point that they were going to spend their life together. And that was what Woohyun wanted too. They weren’t simply testing the waters. It was a serious relationship. So sooner or later they were bound to be married. But was Sunggyu really sure about it?

Sunggyu sat up, and leaned on the headboard folding his legs, and Woohyun followed him, sitting by his side. The older said, “I know this is random, and I still have a lot of insecurities, so maybe that’s what I need? A confirmation that we’ll be together for a long time? I care for you a lot, and binding you to me would be the last thing I would want, but if we both want it, maybe it can help us strengthen our relationship?”

“So is this something you are considering because it might help us overcome our issues and move forward smoothly?” Woohyun was slightly disappointed, because as someone who valued love, he would have liked it if it was a scenario of Sunggyu suddenly realizing he couldn’t live without Woohyun, and then deciding to marry him. That would have been lovely. But the Sunggyu he loved, always made decisions after carefully thinking through them. Even though a lot of times, the older had made wrong decisions, yet to make a rash decision like that, was not something Sunggyu did.

“Yes.” Sunggyu replied.

That confirmed it, and though Woohyun was a bit dejected (where were the rings and roses and love songs which defined a perfect proposal?), yet he was thrilled by the fact that Sunggyu wanted to marry him. That was a huge step, and for Sunggyu to consider it­ even though they were practically as good as married (they even looked after a kid together), really meant a lot to Woohyun. As Sunggyu had said, it was already making him more confident about their relationship.

“That and also that we can officially be a family if we marry. You would be a part of my family and I can be part of yours and we can be husbands, and that would be really nice.” Sunggyu blushed, after saying all of that.

Woohyun was not able to come up with a proper reply to that. He was too overwhelmed. Maybe Sunggyu’s emotions also played a major role in the decision.

“Today, I felt really down Woohyun.” Sunggyu admitted. “When you were angry at me, I was really angry at you too, because I did not like you being angry at me. But I realized that your anger was all because you care for me. I am not used to that, because I haven’t really lived with people who cared about me so much to tell me to improve when I lack.”

“Why do you think like that? I have been with you for so long. I have always cared for you. And there are so many people who care about you, hyung.”

“I know that. I mean it in a sense like how you are with your family? You lived with them for the majority of your life. They constantly worry about you. With me, I have never had someone who had me as the first priority, except for my father, but he was too busy.”

“You have your mom too Gyu.” Woohyun reminded him.

“Yes, and after living with her for a year I realized what family meant. You have been like a family to me always. Of course there are Dongwoo, Myungsoo, Sungjong and the others, but you are someone whom I can live with forever. I am sorry if I am going overboard with this, but I wouldn’t really mind living with you forever. That would be, in fact, too awesome.”

The whole of it felt too unreal to Woohyun. Was Sunggyu really saying all of those things _and_ meaning every word of it? Because it was all too good to be true. “Do you trust me hyung?” Woohyun asked. That was one of the things Woohyun feared the most about. Sunggyu was an independent and self-sufficient person. For the older to accept someone in his life was a huge step.

And it was Woohyun’s right to worry about trust. Because Sunggyu had not trusted him once before with his problems. Sunggyu who used to be always confident about himself, someone who would wallow in thoughts inside, but still present a façade of being unaffected to the outside world, had a lot of insecurities about his love life. That was something evident.

Whenever they had an argument or disagreement, the older would start having doubts about their relationship. Woohyun sometimes wondered if Sunggyu had even accepted that Woohyun loved him. Because if he did, it made no sense for the older to have those doubts. Yet he had them, and that made Woohyun concerned about the level of trust Sunggyu had in him.

“I do. I trust you Woohyun.” Sunggyu replied confidently.

Woohyun waited for that mask of confidence to wither, but that did not happen.

“I wouldn’t have believed that too before” Sunggyu smiled sadly at him. “But after what happened today, I realize I do trust you a lot.”

Woohyun was confused. What had he missed? Maybe it was something that happened while he was away leading the kids to safety while Sunggyu got caught by the woman.

“I am sorry for waking you up now.” Sunggyu moved close to him, and gave him a kiss on the forehead, patting his hair. “We can talk about this tomorrow too. You can go to sleep if you want to. There’s a lot to talk about.” Sunggyu gave him soft kisses on his cheeks too.

And Woohyun felt shy at receiving all the affection. He was even more flustered as Sunggyu snuggled himself against him, almost over his lap. “Wh-what are you doing Gyu?”

“Do you want me to stop?” Sunggyu asked.

No. He did not want that. But with Sunggyu indirectly proposing to him for marriage, telling him that he was like family to him, and then being so affectionate with him, it was all too much for Woohyun. He could not even think properly, and could not decide what to be happy about first. He was bursting with joy inside. He replied in the form of bringing Sunggyu closer to him, and wrapping his arms around him.

“It’s four in the night. Let’s sleep Woohyun ah.”

“Are you able to sleep?” Woohyun asked.

When Sunggyu wasn’t able to give an answer, Woohyun said-

“If you can’t sleep, I won’t be able to sleep either. And I want to know what happened today.”

“Fine.”

 

 

 

Now, it was five in the morning, and Woohyun was pretending to be asleep, so that Sunggyu wouldn’t wake up.

Sunggyu had been right, they should have postponed the talk to tomorrow. Now all he was doing was thinking about what Sunggyu had told him.

The woman had told Sunggyu that they had also captured kids from elsewhere, and Sunggyu had been hopeful of saving those kids, but after the Daegu guards had interrogated the woman, they had found out that the woman had burnt alive all those children, and that was probably what Sunggyu and Woohyun had seen while on their way here. When they had been travelling from Gwangju to Daegu, they had come across a few burnt houses, inside which were charred skeletons. They probably belonged to the kids.

Even thinking of that made Woohyun want to empty the contents of his stomach. It must have been so painful for the kids to live with these kind of monsters.

The woman’s name was Jinah. She lived with her husband and baby boy in a lovely house during the pre-apocalypse times. They were a happy family. They had even managed to survive the apocalypse, building a safe haven for themselves somewhere. Jinah had high hopes for her family, but one day while playing with toys, her child had hurt her husband with something, and he had turned into an almost-zombie state. No one knew what happened to him, but he would have sudden urges for human flesh. He had become a zombie but had an almost functioning mind too. But as days went on his condition deteriorated. He needed to bite humans for his urges to go away and to remain sane, and one day he had bitten their child. And Jinah hadn’t even been mad about it. She had turned crazy after he husband had turned into that state and had been blaming their child for it. That’s how they had ended up hating children. And began abusing them.

That was what Sunggyu had gathered from the bits Jinah had told him and later on to the guards. The older had relayed the entire story to Woohyun, and Woohyun couldn’t help but be enraged. How are children supposed to know right and wrong? How can adults expect them to look after themselves? And to kidnap and abuse children for such an illogical reason made no sense to Woohyun.

If everyone did that, the world would not be a place fit to live. Woohyun had lost some people he cared for, while they were doing their guard duties. The guards he cared for had lost their lives in the process of saving others, so should Woohyun hate those other people then? Should he hate weak people whom guards had to protect?

What boiled his blood further was that while Sunggyu had been captured when Woohyun had been ushering the kids to safety, Jinah had told Sunggyu she had seen Woohyun cheating on him, just to create distrust between them. That was a believable lie, because there was no way Jinah would be knowing they were a couple in the first place, but if she knew that much, then she could be right about the cheating part too. She had even concocted a whole story to explain that too.

And to Woohyun’s delight, Sunggyu had informed him that he had rejected her statements right from the start. Not because he did not believe her, but because he believed Woohyun wouldn’t cheat on him.

That was the trust Sunggyu had been talking about. And truth be said, Woohyun appreciated that.

Sunggyu had admitted that he had been surprised about his own reaction, because he knew normally the insecurities would grow within him on hearing such things, but he had not been swayed by her words even a little, and that was when he had realized that he was ready to take the next step in their relationship.

It made sense, Woohyun thought, he was impressed by Sunggyu too, because maybe, maybe, Woohyun would have believed Jinah if she had said the same thing about Sunggyu to him. After all, Woohyun had the same insecurities within him as Sunggyu did. He just hid it well, and knew when to push them back, since he was clear about his goal of wanting to be with the older. But that the older had completely rubbished her claims, made Woohyun happy.

Maybe that little happiness was what made Woohyun sleep finally.

 

 

 

They woke up around eight in the morning, and after having a meeting with the Daegu guards and village head, they set off for their settlement.

This time it was Sunggyu who rode on the first leg of the journey. Woohyun behind him, looked at the surroundings for any signs of danger, while thinking at the same time. He wondered if they could both go to the place where Woohyun had come across Dahyun. They could end the monster inside her mother.

But now was not the time for it. They were exhausted, and were also taking a detour from their usual route, to avoid coming across the burnt remains of the houses where they had seen the skeletons. The Daegu guards had assured they would look after it, and neither Woohyun nor Sunggyu had any wish to see the sight again. It seemed too real and horrible to them now.

So they wouldn’t be passing through the place where Woohyun had met Dahyun since it was on that route. They could alternatively take a longer route to reach there, but for some reason Woohyun wanted Dahyun to be there with them when they went to send her mom off. She could look at her one last time if she wanted to, after Woohyun killed her zombie state. But he wasn’t really sure if Dahyun even wanted to see her mom again. Because she had asked Woohyun to send her off, and hadn’t asked to see her again. She must have already accepted her departure. Yet, Woohyun wanted to confirm with her about it, before they could bury her mother.

Which is why, he had not talked about it to Sunggyu. Instead as they passed places on their bike, they talked about what they would do once they reached home.

Woohyun had planned to take a rest for a few days. He was still not sure about being a guard, though he could guess that Sunggyu wanted him to return to the job.

Sunggyu was sure about returning to his guard job, and was also planning to go talk about it to the older guards as soon as they reached home.

Woohyun was not against it, but he had one condition.

“You are not going on missions like these without me.”

“For that, you would have to be a guard too Woohyunie, if you want to accompany me.” Sunggyu said, over the noise of the bike engine.

Woohyun kicked away a zombie which lunged towards them from the side, and killed it with an arrow as they moved past it. “I don’t know about that. But you are not going to such missions without me.”

“Why? Are you worried I can’t look after myself?” Sunggyu asked.

“No, because otherwise I’ll be worried about you since I would be far away, and god forbid, if you are in a risky situation, I want to be able to help you.” Since Woohyun was now facing back having to shoot the arrow at the zombie as they passed it already, once he was done with the task, he tried to turn around so he could face the front while the bike was moving, but there was a bump in the road ahead, and he fell off the bike.

There was a loud screech of the tires as the bike came to a sudden halt, and Sunggyu ran to him.

The left side of Woohyun’s body was aching as he had fallen on his side. He winced in pain, as Sunggyu tried to make him get up.

“I am so sorry Woohyun. Are you alright? Does it pain?” Sunggyu kept on asking him if he was alright, and Woohyun was having a headache at the continuous questions.

So he wanted to scold Sunggyu so he would stop, but when he looked into his eyes, the look there made him shut up.

Sunggyu looked crazy with worry, his eyes frantically scanning Woohyun’s body for injuries. His brows were furrowed, as he kept on looking around too at times to be alert of their surroundings, and then returning to worry about Woohyun again.

Woohyun had almost forgotten about his pain for some time, but then Sunggyu touched his thigh to see if it hurt, Woohyun let out a groan.

“Woohyun” Sunggyu said again, concern dripping out of his voice.

Woohyun noticed a zombie in the distance, and it had not yet noticed them. He did not want to wait for it to notice them though. It may also bring some of its kind with it. And now that he was reduced to half of his ability, it was better for them to leave as soon as possible. “Let’s just go fast.” He said in a low voice. “Hyung, it’s hurting, but it’s manageable, so let’s go now.”

Sunggyu was unconvinced, but Woohyun pointed the zombie to him, so the older reluctantly agreed. “It really isn’t bad though, is it? Show me?”

“Later, not now. It’s not that bad. And if it does get unbearable, I’ll tell you.” Woohyun replied. The pain was there, but it would go away soon.

Sunggyu lent his hand to Woohyun and once they sat on their bikes, the older made Woohyun place his hands around his waist. “Hold on tight, and don’t do any more acrobatics. If there’s some danger, inform me, and I’ll look after it, okay?”

“Yes. It was because of my carelessness anyway.” Woohyun replied, hugging him tight, as Sunggyu drove off.

 

 

 

It was seven hours now since they had started their journey, and they had only taken one break of fifteen minutes in between.

Sunggyu had checked Woohyun’s body, and though it did not look bad, Woohyun still had some pain on that side.

After their break they were into the third hour of non-stop riding, and Woohyun was really exhausted. It was going to be dusk soon, and they had to reach before that. It would take them approximately half an hour to reach Gwangju from their place, and Woohyun hoped there weren’t any obstacles.

Sunggyu must be so tired, he thought.

Woohyun had offered to switch places and be the rider, but Sunggyu had vehemently declined the offer. It was not like Woohyun could insist in his state, so he tried not to put too much pressure on Sunggyu’s back, but whenever he pulled away, he could feel Sunggyu trying to come back to have Woohyun against him again. The older would be relaxed when Woohyun would lean against him totally.

So he gave up, and used Sunggyu as a hugging pillow during their journey. Once they reached home, Woohyun was going to give a good massage to Sunggyu. The older deserved it.

As they covered more distance, Woohyun could sight the few guards standing over the walls, with lanterns in their hands.

His heart filled with excitement as he realized they were finally going to be back home after three days outside. Whether they would return safely had been doubtful, but now they were safe, with mission accomplished, and Woohyun’s heart burst with joy.

He so badly wanted the distance to be covered sooner just so he could run to his family home, meet his parents, brothers, meet his friends, and bring back Dahyun to their home. He missed them and his baby so much. He imagined their smiling relieved faces, and his heart burst with happiness.

Sunggyu leaned back a little. “We are almost there Hyun.”

There would be only one person missing once they reached home. Kyungran. Woohyun wanted to go to her as soon as possible and tell her that her wish was fulfilled. He would be marrying Sunggyu in some time hopefully. He imagined her smiling happily for them, and being excited at having a granddaughter already.

And he realized that ‘soon’ could be ‘tomorrow’.

“Sunggyu, shall we go to meet your mom tomorrow?” Woohyun asked, as Sunggyu stopped the bike in front of the wall. The area was clear, and the guards were getting ready to step down outside just so they could check them before letting them enter.

Sunggyu turned to him, a look of pleasant surprise on his face. “Do you want to? I miss her. Let’s go please?” He requested.

Woohyun nodded, smiling.

As the guards hopped on the ladder, so they could step down, Sunggyu turned to Woohyun, “But why do you want to go meet her all of a sudden?” Sunggyu nervously shifted on his feet, hand in his pocket, probably excited to go inside, while giving a grin to the guards who were stepping down the ladders now.

“So that I can tell her I love her son, and that I want to marry him.” Woohyun replied.

The grin on Sunggyu’s face turned to shock, as he looked at Woohyun all of a sudden. “Really?”

Woohyun looked away, blushing, and Sunggyu held his hand, placing a kiss on his cheeks. “I love you Woohyun. Thank you for being in my life.”

The smile on Sunggyu’s face was so beautiful, Woohyun was blinded by it. “Hyung, are you an angel?” He asked.

“You are supposed to say you love me too.” Sunggyu said laughing.

Woohyun nodded and leaned forward, whispering to Sunggyu’s ear, “I love you Kim Sunggyu. Will you be mine?”

Sunggyu had a blush on his cheeks when Woohyun withdrew and began swinging their hands. The older did not take much time to reply though, as he moved forward and kissed his ear saying, “Till infinity.”

As the sun set behind them, Dongwoo came running to them, “Come on love birds, everyone’s waiting for you!”

And they stepped back to their old place, but with hopes for a brighter life, leaving behind all the darkness.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gyu’s ‘Till Infinity’ was meant to be muhandaekkaji or something that fit better, but not all of us know Korean including me so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> And this is done finally! I hope all of you enjoyed reading it! I want to thank to everyone who read this, and left kudos. And to my lovely commenters too, because I was so nervous about whatever I was writing that even though most authors don’t like it, even a simple ‘please update’ was something I was looking forward to. Because I used to write well years ago, and the writing quality has only deteriorated over the years as I gave up on writing in between, so that is something I am scared about. So thank you to everyone who commented or showed love through kudos etc! I love you all! This might not be the end. I want to write an epilogue or a short sequel (short doesn’t exist in my dictionary lol), but that might take some months since I am busy. So I might return after a month or so! Lots of love <3 and take care!


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